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THE 


V?/ 


COLOR PRIMER 

TEACHERS’ EDITION. 


BY MILTON BRADLEY 
















Books on Color Instruction. 

Published by MILTON BRADLEY Co. 

ELEMENTARY COLOR, by Milton Bradley, cloth, ... $ .75 
This book gives a complete explanation of the use of the Glass 
Prism, Color Wheel and Top, Maxwell Disks, Colored Papers and 
the various Color Charts. It is fully illustrated and has a frontis- 
. piece of colored papers in 126 colors representing pure and broken 
spectrum scales. 

PRACTICAL COLOR WORK, by Helena P. Chace, paper, . $ .25 
This is a handbook for the educational use of colored papers, giving 
a clear explanation of the Bradley system and definite instruction 
in folding, cutting and mounting colored papers. Illustrated with 
60 plates of forms and designs. 

COLOR IN THE KINDERGARTEN, by Milton Bradley, paper, $ .25 
This is a Manual of the Theory of Color and Practical Use of Color 
Material in the Kindergarten. 

A CLASS BOOK OF COLOR, by Mark M. Maycock, M. P. 
Teachers’ Edition, a complete handbook with colored papers pasted 

in the indicated spaces, bound in cloth,.$1.00 

Pupils’ Edition, with the same text but with the spaces left to be 
filled with the colored papers by the pupils, bound in boards, $ .50 



f 


COLOR 



THE 

PRIM 


3 


TEACHERS’ EDITION. 


x+r 


A MANUAL OF COLOR INSTRUCTION FOR PRIMARY AND UNGRADED 
SCHOOLS, INCLUDING PUPILS’ TEXT-BOOK. 

BY 

M ilton ^Bradley. 


MILTON BRADLEY CO., 

NEW YORK. ATLANTA. 


Springfield, Mass. 

KANSAS CITY. 





3368 


Copyrighted, 1897, 

BY 

MILTON BRADLEY CO., 

Springfield, Mass. 



NOTE TO TEACHERS. 


T his little book; has been prepared to aid 
primary teachers in directing, even among 
their youngest pupils, a logical and truth¬ 
ful study of color, so that, whether much or 
little is attempted, the time given to the subject 
shall be profitably used. It has been the aim 
of the author to crowd as much information as 
possible into a limited space, but these few 
pages do not by any means make a complete 
text book on the subject of color. 

The first section furnishes the teacher with 
a simple and concise explanation of the princi¬ 
ples of color analysis and color combinations 
on which the system of instruction presented 
in the last two sections is based. 

The second section outlines a course of 
simple lessons, for the convenience of those 
who may care to use them. But the same ob¬ 
ject may be accomplished more satisfactorily if 
the teacher wfill allow these lessons to suggest 
others of the same character, because original 


work often has a great advantage on account 
of its personality. 

The third part, prepared as a pupils’ text 
book and also published separately in that 
form, is included as a part of this book, for 
the convenience of the teacher in arranging the 
lessons. With the text book in use by the 
pupils their lessons may be so well prepared in 
advance, that the teacher can profitably give 
the entire recitation period to experiments and 
practical illustrations of the subject, or to the 
desk work which the pupils are doing. 

The lessons and experiments outlined in the 
following pages are not offered as exhaustive 
in matter or superior in methods of presenta¬ 
tion. Any intelligent and interested teacher 
may be able to devise other exercises equally 
fit for illustrating the same truths. 

The amount of time to be given to the con¬ 
sideration of any subject and the relation of 
that subject to other studies are matters to be 



4 


NOTE TO TEACHERS . 


determined by those who prepare the school 
programme, but heretofore the teaching of 
color, if considered at all, has been treated 
only in connection with drawing exercises. 
There seems, however, to be no sufficient reason 
why this relation between these two subjects 
should be perpetuated to the disadvantage of 
color teaching in the elementary grades. Color 
attracts the attention much earlier and more 
forcibly than mere form without strong colors, 
and it continues to appeal to us from every 
direction all through our lives. 

The study of color, even when separated from 
the occupations of drawing, is sure to inspire 
intense interest if one step follow's another in 
logical succession, so that new and surprising 
effects are continually developed and clearly 
explained. 

Briefly stated this system is comprised under 
these five general heads: 1 . Spectrum stand¬ 
ards^. Pigmentary standards based on the 
spectrum standards ; 3 . Maxwell rotating disks 
made in the pigmentary standards and white 
and black ; 4 . A color nomenclature based on 
the accepted standards and their disk combina¬ 


tions ; 5 . Colored papers made in accordance 
with these standards and their disk combina¬ 
tions ; the whole supplemented by a simple line 
of water color pigments corresponding to the 
standards already adopted for the disks. 

A deep interest is easily sustained if the 
pupils are led to see the practical application 
of the facts which they are learning, and then 
instead of an isolated study, this color instruc¬ 
tion is found to be closely related to every 
phase of life. 

The method and length of the lesson must 
be determined by each teacher, but short 
lessons are recommended. Those of not more 
than fifteen or twenty minutes have been found 
by experience to be long enough, and such 
lessons, well illustrated, will create a desire 
for more. 

The consideration of this subject should lead 
the pupil to see color wffiere he never would 
have thought of looking for it, to discover har¬ 
monies in nature before unrevealed to his closed 
eyes, and to detect crude and disagreeable 
contrasts in combinations which had once been 
viewed with admiration. 


PH RT 1. 

t 

AN OUTLINE OF 

ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 






































































































































ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 


COLOR STUDY MUST BE LOGICAL. 


Color is perceived only by the sense of sight, 
while we discern form by seeing and feeling. 
Our eyes do all they are designed to do when 
they enable us to determine form and color. 
But the perception of form and the perception 
of color rest upon a very unequal footing in the 
minds of even well informed persons, and this 
is on account of the popular knowledge regard¬ 
ing form and the very meager information about 
color. 

Geometry has been for many years a com¬ 
mon study, based on universally accepted 
standards of measurement, which have provid¬ 
ed definite terms in which certain mathemati¬ 
cal facts regarding form can be expressed. 
The measures of length, such as the foot and 
meter, and the divided circle by which angles 
are designated, compared and recorded, have 


placed definitions of form within the range of 
the exact sciences, and made them familiar to 
the general reader. 

But no such advantages have ever obtained 
in the department of color. Here there has 
been no system of measuring or even naming 
colors in any definite terms, because the popular 
words relating to the subject are few and are 
used so loosely that they have slight practical 
value. The reason of this is that little was 
known about the physical qualities of color 
until within a comparatively short time, and 
also because the artists and colorists have been 
so wedded to false theories that they have fail¬ 
ed to heed the important scientific facts regard¬ 
ing color, which have come to be unanimously 
accepted by physical students during the last 
half century. 



8 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


This indifference and consequent popular 
ignorance have delayed the general adoption 
of well defined terms for carrying on intelligent 
conversation regarding colors, as may be plain¬ 
ly seen by reference to the definitions of color 
terms in our best dictionaries and cyclopedias. 
Tint, shade, hue and tone are four words 
commonly employed in speaking or writing 
about color, but common usage has not yet 
justified the editors of our leading dictionaries 
in adopting such accurate definitions as are 
warranted by the facts generally accepted and 
adopted in the modern scientific treatises on 
color. 

The study of form which Froebel first intro¬ 
duced into the lowest grades of instruction, 
has been the active force to develop a definite 
use of simple geometric terms by our young 
children, such as would have been considered 
unnaturally mature a generation ago. But al¬ 
though color was at the same time prominently 
introduced in Froebel’s kindergartens, no corre¬ 
sponding advance educationally has been made 
in its consideration because as we have said, 
there have been no popularly accepted terms for 
the definite expression of common color facts. 


It is not necessary that the youngest pupils 
learn much, if anything, of the science of color, 
neither is it expected that they will study 
geometry, but it is desirable that every teacher 
in the lower grades of our schools shall possess 
so much information regarding both color and 
form that she will not unconsciously cultivate, 
in the minds of the children under her care, 
impressions regarding these subjects which 
they may later discover to be untruthful. 

The study of color, either by the adult or 
the youngest child should be conducted in a 
logical way, and must be founded on facts to 
give best results. The truth has been demon¬ 
strated that color, in whatever form or material 
it may be seen, is produced by physical phe¬ 
nomena, which are well understood by the 
students of to-day, and that it is perceived by 
means of physical and psychological impres¬ 
sions regarding which there is no longer great 
mystery, but for which reasonable theories 
have been formulated and generally accepted 

It is the aim of this little book to present 
briefly and as clearly as possible an outline 
of the latest methods of color study based on 
demonstrable facts concerning color, some- 


ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 


9 


what as the modern system of form study is 
necessarily founded on the mathematical facts 
of form as embodied in geometry, and the 
modern system of music on the number of vi¬ 
brations of material substances. 

THE LAWS OF COLOR MUST NOT BE 
VIOLATED. 

A drawing which violates truths regarding 
measurements and perspective is relatively 
valueless, no matter what may be the quality 
of line and the handling of light and shade. 
So no painting can successfully withstand in¬ 
telligent criticism if it violates the laws of color, 
which although possibly more subtile than 
those of form, still as surely exist and are 
coming to be as clearly understood. 

A prominent educator says concerning the 
system here very briefly set forth, “The prin¬ 
ciples of chromatic harmony are perhaps not 
simple, but a child before whom right stand¬ 
ards of color combinations are constantly pre¬ 
sented will acquire a correct aesthetic judgment 
that may become intuitive. The effect of such 
training on the higher development of our 
people and on their true appreciation of art 
must be of the greatest value.” 


SOLAR SPECTRUM-NATURE’S CHART 
OF COLOR. 

The solar spectrum has been called nature’s 
chart of color, and while this may not be even 
approximately true, yet in it we must recognize 
the only source of permanent standards on 
which a logical system of color study and color 
nomenclature can be formulated. 

The scientist with his expensive and elabor¬ 
ate apparatus can produce in a very dark room 
a wonderfully brilliant and beautiful solar spec¬ 
trum, so intense and immovable that it can be 
carefully studied and analyzed for hours and 
days, and it was these conditions which ena¬ 
bled a company of interested educators to evolve 
the scheme of color study here advocated. 
Equally favorable conditions and apparatus 
are not necessary for elementary color instruc¬ 
tion, although the writer has often wished that 
every teacher and every child could for once 
see a solar spectrum as perfect as can be pro¬ 
duced with the apparatus of the modern phys¬ 
ical laboratory. 

This being ordinarily impracticable each 
teacher must use the best available facilities, 
and may always be sure that a spectrum, how- 


10 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


ever imperfect, will be interesting to the child¬ 
ren. For these experiments a very good prism 
can be bought for fifteen to thirty cents. 

, ^VIOLET 4210 

^ BLUE 4695 

GREEN 5164 
YELLOW 5793 
ORANGE 6085 
RED 6571 


Fig. 1 . 

Fig. 1 shows the relative position of the 
several features in this experiment as it can 
be presented in a schoolroom having a south¬ 
ern exposure. S is the sunbeam, P the prism, 
and the dotted lines represent the variously 
colored rays of light into which the white sun¬ 
beam is separated by passing through the 
prism, thus forming the spectrum on the screen 
or ceiling, with violet at the top and red at 
the bottom. The prism may be held in the 
direct rays of the sun and the spectrum thrown 
on the ceiling wherever it may strike, or if the 
windows can be darkened by heavy curtains 



or thick wrapping paper, a small hole in one 
of the curtains may be made to admit a beam 
of light without lighting the room very much. 
In any event the effect will be improved if the 
spectrum is thrown to the darkest corner of 
the room. 

The explanation of the phenomenon of the 
spectrum is that the beam of white sunlight is 
composed of a great number of different kinds 
of rays of various colors, which in passing 
through the prism are refracted or bent from 
their direct course, some more than others, the 
red least of all and the violet most, and thus 
the white sunlight is made to present a beauti¬ 
ful band of color called the solar spectrum. 
It is supposed that light is projected through 
space by waves or undulations in an extreme¬ 
ly rare medium called ether which occupies all 
space and transparent bodies. These weaves 
are thought to be somewhat similar to sound 
waves in the air or the ripples on the smooth 
surface of a pond when a pebble is thrown in¬ 
to it. According to this theory a ray of light 
in passing through a prism is refracted from 
a straight line in proportion to the number of 
waves or undulations per second, and in in- 





ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 


11 


verse proportion to the length of the waves. 
The red waves are the longest and are refract¬ 
ed the least, while the violet are the shortest 
and are refracted the most. 

The colors in a solar prismatic spectrum are 
always the same under like conditions and the 
order of their arrangement is never changed. 
By this quality of wave-length which is 
constant, any spectrum color can be definitely 
located in the spectrum, and hence can always 
be referred to by its recorded wave length, and 
therefore can be used as a permanent, unvary¬ 
ing standard of color. 

NUMBER OF STANDARDS. 

In selecting definite spectrum colors to serve 
as standards, the number required is the first 
consideration. 

A careful study of the theories and experi¬ 
ments of the past seems to confine this number 
within the range from three to seven. 

Sir Isaac Newton thought there should be 
seven, and Sir David Brewster, who lived and 
experimented one hundred and fifty years later 
than Newton, believed that he had discovered 
a new theory which limited the standard or 
primary colors to three, red, yellow and blue, 


a theory which has commonly been accepted 
by artists, although long ago discarded by 
scientists. 

Later investigation has determined that in a 
strictly scientific consideration of pure sunlight 
there are three colors, red, green and blue- 
violet, from v/hich, in various combinations, all 
other pure sunlight color effects can be pro¬ 
duced, and which in that sens6 may be con¬ 
sidered as primary colors, but they are of no 
practical value in the aesthetic consideration of 
material colors. Experiments have proven 
that from red, yellow and blue, it is impossi¬ 
ble to produce all other color effects, either in 
sunlight colors or in pigments, and hence 
neither of these triads of colors can have any 
claim to favorable recognition as a complete 
set of standards in the study of material color 
effects. 

The seven standard colors of Newton com¬ 
prised red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo 
and violet, but recent investigation has dem¬ 
onstrated that there is no advantage in the 
recognition of indigo, which is a violet blue, 
as a standard and that a list comprising 
Newton’s six other colors is sufficient, and not 


12 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


larger than is necessary for best results in 
establishing a practical nomenclature of color 
and in the study of the aesthetic truths regard¬ 
ing colors. 

THE BRADLEY STANDARDS. 

For such standards the most intense expres¬ 
sion of each color is chosen, i. e., the reddest 
red, greenest green, etc., and these have been 
accurately designated by their wave lengths, 
so that they can be referred to at any time for 
comparison or discussion. Thus these stand¬ 
ards have been chosen first by the aesthetic 
sense and afterwards established and defined 
by scientific methods. 

The wave lengths of these six standards are 
represented by the following numbers in 
tenmillionths of a millimeter: Red, 6571; 
Orange, 6085 ; Yellow, 5793; Green, 5164; 
Blue, 4695 ; Violet, 4210. These colors hav¬ 
ing been selected in accordance with the train¬ 
ed perceptions of a considerable number of 
competent persons comprising artists, teachers, 
and others, as the most desirable standards, 
the attempt has been made to secure the best 
possible imitations of each in material colors, 
such as pigments, papers, etc., to serve as 


material or pigmentary standards of color. 
While the spectrum colors indicated by the 
above numbers are unchangeable and serve as 
permanent standards, their material represen¬ 
tations must necessarily be imperfect and 
subject to improvement in the future, as chem¬ 
ical processes in the manufacture of pigments 
may afford purer imitations of the spectrum 
standards. But the improved pigments will 
still produce the same colors as before, only 
purer and probably more intense, and hence will 
represent the same spectrum standards from 
age to age. 

The best material color is but a weak ap¬ 
proximation to the pure spectrum color, but 
the one aim must be to secure the same kind 
of color, as for example an orange neither more 
red nor more yellow than the location in the 
spectrum chosen for the standard orange. 

For educational purposes special coated 
colored papers are not only the cheapest 
material, but fortunately afford the purest 
colors to be found in convenient form. 

From the pure spectrum colors, i. e., the 
sunlight colors, it is possible by reflection to 
combine two adjacent standards in various 


ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 


13 


pairs to imitate other spectrum colors between 
the standards. 

For example, if two small mirrors are held 
in a spectrum, one at the “red” and the other 
at the “orange” so that the two colors are 
reflected upon the same spot on a white surface 
the result is a color between red and orange. 
So also if we mix red and orange pigments 
together we may produce various colors be¬ 
tween the two which will be orange-red or red- 
orange as the relative quantity used of each 
may be changed ; but there is no way by which 
the quantity of color effect produced by the 
use of each of the standards can be measured 
and thereby recorded. 

THE MAXWELL DISKS. 

We have however in the “Maxwell rotating 
disks” a means for imitating, measuring and 
recording material color effects, which is at 
once convenient and accurate, and the results 
correspond in principle with those secured by 
combining the spectrum colors by means of the 
mirrors, as also the effects in nature caused by 
reflected colored lights. 

Every boy knows that if he rapidly whirls a 
lighted stick, the coal of fire at the end pro¬ 


duces a circle of light, which phenomenon is 
caused by the quality of the eye called reten¬ 
tion of vision, by which the impression made 
on the retina remains during an entire rotation 
of the point of light. By the same quality of 
vision, when one color is presented to the eye 
and instantly replaced by another the effect is 
a combination of the two colors to form a new 
color. 

Therefore if for example one quarter of the 
surface of a disk of cardboard is covered with 
red paper, and three quarters with orange 
paper, and the disk rapidly rotated on a 
spindle, the result is a new color which is a 
mixture of these two, or a red-orange. An¬ 
other most valuable feature of this phenome¬ 
non is that the resulting color is directly in 
proportion to the angular measurement of the 
two sectors of color formed by the overlapping 
disks, so that if the circumference is divided 
into 100 equal parts the resulting color will be 
definitely named by the formula “Red 25; 
Orange 75,” or in general terms as a reddish 
orange or red-orange. 

More than two hundred years ago Sir Isaac 
Newton made use of this fact by painting 


14 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


various colors on the flat surface of a spinning 
top, and he succeeded in producing a neutral 
gray effect by using seven colors which he then 
thought necessary to secure the result. Less 
than fifty years ago an English scientist, J. 
Clerk Maxwell, while experimenting with simi¬ 
lar painted surfaces of cardboad, conceived the 
idea of combining two cardboard disks of 
different colors by cutting a slit in each from 
circumference to center, so that by joining them 
he was able to show varying proportions of 
each and thus, by rotation, to produce various 
colors. 

COLOR WHEEL AND COLOR TOP. 

This is clearly seen in the familiar “color 
top” already in common use in primary schools, 
and is also shown by the larger disks of the 
“color wheel.” The color wheel is for demon¬ 
stration before a class or school and to be 
operated and explained by the teacher. The 
color tops are for individual use by teacher or 
pupils. Both are not necessary in the same 
school but are desirable. With the wheel alone 
the teacher must do the work, demonstrating 
the facts as she explains them. If the tbps 
only are provided the teacher and each child 


in the school or class should have one so that 
the children may imitate the experiments shown 
and explained by the teacher. If both are 
available general instruction may be given by 
demonstrations with the color wheel, each pupil 
repeating the experiments with the top. In 
the top the disks are made from colored papers 
in two sizes, about 3-4 of an inch and 1 1-2 
inches in diameter. The disks of the primary 
school color wheels are in three sizes, from 3 
inches to 7 1-2 inches and are of cardboard. 

In commencing work with the rotating disks 
and colored papers made in accordance with a 
system based on their use, one must once for 
all discard the old myth that the three primary 
colors, red, yellow, and blue, have any reason 
for their existence as standards on which alone 
to base color education or color practice. 

A set of colors to be used as standards in 
any system of color investigation or instruc¬ 
tion must be such that practically all other 
colors of equal purity can be made from them 
by combination. The smaller the number 
that will meet this test successfully, the better, 
because of the greater simplicity of nomen¬ 
clature that will be possible. As has been 


ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION. 


15 


slated, three are insufficient, and extended 
experiments have shown that six are enough, 
with the added advantage that the already 
recognized colors most familiar as types, if 
secured in uniform purity are the most useful, 
namely, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and 
violet, with the addition of black and white, 
thus confirming the value of this psychological 
selection made by the aesthetic sense. 

COLORED PAPERS. 

Having considered thus far the standards 
chosen in the spectrum and located by their 
wave lengths, and coated papers made in the 
closest possible imitation of these six spectrum 
colors and also of white and black, and having 
accepted the rotating disks as a means for 
combining these eight standards, in various 
selections and proportions, the next step in 
the logical sequence has been the preparation 
of a full line of educational colored papers 
based very largely on these standards and their 
disk combinations on the rotating spindle. 
In this selection of typical papers two hues be¬ 
tween each adjacent pair of spectrum stand¬ 
ards and also between the red and violet have 
been chosen, thus joining the two ends of the 


spectrum and forming a “spectrum Circuit.” 
These twelve colors, for convenience, are 
termed intermediate spectrum hues, simply as 
a technical distinction from the six standard 
colors and white and black. Two of the inter¬ 
mediate hues are chosen, instead of a larger 
or smaller number, because by this selection a 
more natural nomenclature is secured. For 
example, between the yellow and green there 
is a green-yellow' nearer the yellow, and a 
yellow-green nearer the green. A larger num¬ 
ber of these intermediate colors would be con¬ 
fusing for primary work and if a more accurate 
nomenclature is required for any color the 
disks of the color wheel or top will furnish it 
exactly, as no other means can. 

TINTS AND SHADES. 

If Maxwell disks, made from all the 
standards and intermediate spectrum hues, are 
each individually combined with a white disk 
on the color wheel, a series of tints of each of 
these colors is the result. Tints may also be 
made by mixing white pigment with the colored 
pigment, or by diluting water colors with 
water. As these tints may be lighter or darker 
their tones will differ, and for our educational 


16 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


papers two tones of each of the tints have been 
chosen, of which the deeper tint nearest the 
standard is for convenience called No. 1 and 
the other, which is lighter, No. 2. 

If a color disk is combined with a black 
disk by rotation or if a shadow is thrown upon 
the color, or a dark neutral pigment mixed 
with the color the result is a shade of the nor¬ 
mal color, and thus we may select two shades 
for each color which with the normal color and 
its two tints will form a scale of color in the 
live tones, a number sufficiently large to serve 
as types in primary color instruction. For 
example the standard red with red tints No. 1 
and No. 2 and shades No. 1 and No. 2 will 
furnish the red scale in live tones, viz : 
standard, two tints and two shades. If we 
combine color disks and behind them on the 
spindle place a graduated disk showing the 
circumference divided into 100 parts, we may 
definitely note and record the quantity of each 
color employed in any combination and thus 
we can accurately name and make record of 
any color. 

As thus far described we have provided for 
a series of typical colors consisting of eighteen 


scales of five tones each, making ninety ex¬ 
amples of pure spectrum colors and their tints 
and shades. 

BROKEN COLORS. 

If we combine a white and a black disk in 
various proportions we secure by rotation a 
series of grays, which are typical colors be¬ 
cause they are absolutely devoid of spectrum 
color, i. e., are absolutely neutral grays. 
These grays are very perfect imitations of a 
white surface in shade or shadow, which can¬ 
not be guaranteed in any pigment gray. 

As the orange disk for example, when com¬ 
bined with a white disk, gives a tint of orange 
and with black a shade of orange, if we com¬ 
bine it with both a white and a black disk the 
result will be a gray orange or a broken orange. 
This is an example of an entirely distinct class 
of colors which may be arranged in a number 
of scales, to form a series of typical ‘"broken 
colors/’ similar in arrangement to the chart of 
spectrum colors and representing a very large 
and wonderfully beautiful class of colors in 
nature and art. These broken colors will be 
further noticed and explained in the second 
part of this book. 


ELEMENTARY COLOR INSTRUCTION . 


17 


MATERIAL OR PIGMENTARY COLORS. 

While the attempt has been made to secure 
the best possible imitation of the spectrum 
standards in material colors, to serve as pig¬ 
mentary standards, the result is very far short 
of the high aim, and yet it is fortunate for the 
cause of primary color education that colored 
papers are at once the best and the cheapest 
material to be found. 

All material colors are more or less fugitive 
and some much less permanent than others, 
while all fall very far short of the spectrum 
standards, but improvements in the manufac¬ 
ture of pigments are constantly being made in 
both their permanence and purity of color. 
Therefore pigmentary material standards will 
not remain absolutely the same from genera¬ 
tion to generation, but they will still be impure 
material standards when referred to and com¬ 
pared with the pure, unchangeable standards 
of the solar spectrum. 

CHEVREUL’S “SIMULTANEOUS 
CONTRASTS.” 

Thus far our consideration of color has been 
practical and analytical, somewhat as form 
is treated in geometry and trigonometry. 


There are, however, subtle effects in certain 
forms which render them pleasing to the eye 
but which are not directly referable to any 
of the simple geometrical type forms. So also 
in color, perhaps to a greater extent, we find 
peculiar aesthetic effects which could not have 
been predicted from the ordinary combinations 
and analyses of type colors. Prominent among 
these peculiar effects and perhaps controlling 
them altogether is the phenomenon commonly 
termed the after image or accidental color. 

The reasons for these effects or illusions as 
far as they are understood can be learned from 
any modern treatise on physics, but the phe¬ 
nomena have furnished the basis for a book 
of five hundred pages written by M. Chevreul, 
a French chemist in charge of the dyeino- de¬ 
partment of the famous Gobelin Tapestry 
Works. This author first discusses these 
effects under the single term “Simultaneous 
Contrasts of Color,” which he afterwards di¬ 
vides into “Simultaneous,” “Successive,” and 
“Mixed” contrasts. This division does not 
seem to simplify the subject and possibly serves 
to obscure the truths, which are included in 
the first term, simultaneous contrasts. 


18 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


It may also be noted here that the deduc¬ 
tions of Chevreul would have been somewhat 
different and much more valuable if he had not 
believed in the false theory of the three pri¬ 
mary colors, red, yellow and blue, which 
seems to have warped his judgment if not his 
vision, as it has that of many artists and 
artisans before and since his day. 

This entire phenomenon in all its phases is 
dependent on the so-called after-image, and in 
it may perhaps be found the cause for a ma¬ 
jority of the best harmonies and some of the 
most disagreeable discords in color. A single 
simple experiment gives a hint of the nature 
of these effects. If one’s eyes are fixed intent¬ 
ly for a half minute on a spot of red, for ex¬ 
ample, and then turned to a white surface, a 
spot like the other in form but of a faint color 
between blue and green, a blue-green, will be 
seen. This appearance is also called the acci¬ 
dental color and it is practically the comple¬ 
mentary color to the red but very much less 
pure and full, in fact a tint of the true comple¬ 
mentary of red. 


The details of these effects are elaborated 
iu the form of experiments in our second part, 
and it is by such means only that they cau be 
discussed, but it may be said here that while 
all that is due to this phenomenon may not as 
yet be fully understood, a very large part of 
those subtle and sometimes fleeting color 
effects, which are experienced in nature and art, 
are due more or less to this series of phenome¬ 
na. 

While it is true that art cannot be originated 
by means of mathematical rules, yet artistic 
effects may often be analyzed and recorded in 
scientific terms by which they can be repeated 
or imitated more or less perfectly. 

The sole aesthetic aim of color study is to 
cultivate color perceptions so that w r e can 
appreciate good color combinations, perhaps 
be able to imitate them and possibly to improve 
on them. The experiments suggested in this 
direction if properly presented may go very far 
in making clear many things now hardly 
comprehended by some who have practiced 
long in art lines. 


PHRT II. 

SOME EXPERIMENTS 

IN COLOR FOR ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION. 



EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


THE PRISM. 


While it is true that the solar spectrum does 
not contain examples of all the colors in the 
world, it falls but little short of doing: so, and 
its presentation is a suitable and attractive 
experiment with which to introduce the subject 
of color to child or adult. 

Although a prism is such a very simple 
affair the teacher will do well to try it in the 
schoolroom without the children the first time, 
so that the best position for its use may be 
discovered. If it is not practicable to throw 
the spectrum on a white wall a sheet of white 
cardboard should be hung so as to receive it. 
Having previously determined the best condi¬ 
tions at a given time of the day, the manage¬ 
ment of the prism will be an easy matter when 
the lesson hour arrives. 

It is not possible to produce in a well lighted 
room a spectrum sufficiently orilliant to clearly 


define the six standard colors, Red, Orange, 
Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet, but even under 
these conditions a beautiful spot of various 
colors may be seen and some of the colors 
named by the children. With closed blinds 
or dark curtains drawn, very good results may 
be secured and the children can see that red is 
at the bottom of the spot of color, and that 
the other colors follow in order, with a wide 
band of rather indefinite violet at the top. 
They can be told that the sunlight coutains 
practically all the colors that are seen in the 
world, and that the reason we see the red of 
the rose is because the flower eats up all the 
colors except the red, which it gives back to 
us for our pleasure. The statement that all 
surfaces except white absorb some of the 
colored rays and reflect others may be reserved 
for a much later lesson in natural science. 



22 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


In examining the spectrum the colors may 
be considered in their order, commencing with 
the red and proceeding to the violet; or as 
some have practiced, first call the attention of 
the pupils to the outside colors of the spectrum, 
the red and violet; next take the two colors 
which follow these, namely, the orange and 
blue, and lastly study the yellow and the green, 
the central colors of the spectrum band. The 
orange very likely may be found to be the 
most difficult one to distinguish and therefore 
will require greater care. 

The preference of the children for the several 
colors may be asked for, and in various ways 
which will suggest themselves the pupils may 
be interested in the subject of color. 

COLORED PAPERS. 

After the prism has been considered, colored 
papers are the most available means for im¬ 
parting earliest impressions regarding color in 
a systematic way, but the spectrum should be 
repeatedly shown until it is familiar to the 
children, and a paper spectrum may be kept 
constantly in view. 

Give to each child a set of paper tablets in 
which the six colors of the spectrum are found. 


Very convenient material is found in a series 
of papers 1 inch wide by 2 inches long, put up 
in four envelopes containing various assort¬ 
ments, under the general title of “Educational 
Colored Paper Tablets for the Bay State Course 
in Color Instruction.” 

No. 1 envelope contains the six spectrum 
colors, with white, black and neutral grays. 

No. 2, the six standards, with tint No. 1 
and shade No. 1 of each. 

No. 3, the eighteen spectrum colors from 
violet-red through the spectrum circuit to red- 
violet, with white, black, two tones each of 
neutral gray, cool gray, warm gray, and green 
gray. 

No. 4, the eighteen spectrum colors as 
above, with tint No. 1 and shade No 1 of each. 

Beginning with Envelope No. 1 ask each 
pupil to select the papers like the outside colors 
of the spectrum; match the colors next to 
these in the same way, and lastly the central 
ones, yellow and green, or the colors may be 
selected and arranged in the spectrum order 
from red to violet. Tell them that all these 
colors and many more are in the sunlight, and 
ask if the spectrum reminds them of anything 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


23 


they have seen before, as the rainbow, or the 
sun shining through a glass of water. 

Call attention to the fact that these six 
colors are the ones most clearly seen in the 
spectrum, and tell the pupil that they are 
called the spectrum standards. These colors 
must be observed until they become fixed stand¬ 
ards, the child’s own property just as much as 
the mental image of the cube or the sphere. 
Each standard must be made the subject of 
particular study, and fixed in the mind by com¬ 
parison w r ith the spectrum. If the child thinks 
when he sees red, “This is like my spectrum 
red,” and forms a correct conclusion, he is 
ready for orange and so on with each of the 
colors. 

When these six colors have become so fa¬ 
miliar to the children that they select them 
readily by name and lay them in the spectrum 
order, they may be asked to bring from home 
for comparison, samples of any color or colors 
which they may find, such as bits of cloth or 
paper, flowers, leaves, etc. As it will proba¬ 
bly be impossible for them to find as pure 
colors as the papers this suggestion should not 
be made before the pure type colors of the 


spectrum are well fixed in the perception of 
the children, for as soon as these miscellaneous 
samples are considered they must be told that 
these colors, red for example, are not the pure 
standard red, but that there are many kinds 
of red besides the standard and that in time 
they will learn what to call them. 

No teacher can assume to dictate to another 
exactly the order in which color instruction 
shall be imparted in the earlist stages, and 
these brief suggestions can indicate only a 
most elastic program, always subject to modi¬ 
fication in accordance with experience and 
conditions. 

Allow the children to group the colors that 
are similar and try to develop in their minds 
the idea of resemblance and difference of 
colors, and bring out the fact that while there 
are many similar colors there is only one stand¬ 
ard of a red, an orange, etc., and that to the 
standard colors we give the names red, orange, 
yellow, green, blue and violet, by which stand¬ 
ards all colors are tested and classified, and 
hence the importance of training the eye to 
recognize the spectrum standards readily. 

There is as yet great difference of opinion 


24 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


among competent teachers as to the methods 
of presenting this subject in the very earliest 
years of the child’s experience. It is quite 
difficult to tell a child truthfully why a sample 
of red cloth brought from home is different 
from his red paper tablet. In fact this is often 
a problem which can be solved correctly only 
by actual experiment with standard color 
disks. Hence it is a pertinent question how 
early to bring to the child’s mind the compari¬ 
son of miscellaneous material with the stand¬ 
ards. The writer does not here assume to 
recommend any detailed course except so far 
as such sequence is indicated in the selections 
of colors in the four collections of paper tablets 
already mentioned, and even this sequence in 
detail cannot be urged arbitrarily as better than 
all others. 

To illustrate: Without doubt the six stand¬ 
ards should be first learned and also white and 
black immediately following, but it is an open 
question whether the consideration of tones or 
of hues may most profitably follow that of 
the standards. In the “Bay state course” 
the former has been adopted and is followed 
here. 


TONES. 

An early lesson on light and shade may 
be given with a book bound in some distinct 
full color, as red. Hold it with the back to¬ 
wards the pupils and vertical so that one cover 
will be illuminated by the fullest possible light 
from the windows, while the other cover re¬ 
ceives the ordinary light of the room. Call 
attention to the strongly lighted cover as 
lighter than the other or a tint of the other one. 
Then turn the book so that the cover which 



Fig. 2. 

before was in the bright light is in the ordinary 
light and the other cover in shadows These 
effects can also be shown by a very simple model 
made with a piece of red paper attached to a 
stiff paper back by merely a few touches of 























EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


25 


gam at the edges, and then the whole folded 
as shown in Fig. 2. The central face will give 
the normal color, while one side will be a tint 
and the other a shade. 

After having shown the truje effect of light 
and shade with the book cover or folded card 
a color disk may be combined with a w r hite 
disk in various proportions to form tints, and 
with a black disk to produce shades. 

At this stage the pupils will be ready for 
the paper tablets in envelope' No. 2 consisting 
of the six standards with a tint and a shade 
of each. 

In the consideration of tints and shades of 
colors or the tones of colors, we must keep in 
mind the true white sunlight tints and shades 
and also the imperfect imitations of them which 
are possible in pigments. 

Pure white light, as good daylight with a 
slightly hazy sky in a fairly well lighted room, 
gives a normal or standard color. A stronger 
light produces a tint and a reduction or ob¬ 
struction .of light a shade. These effects give 
true tints and shades and are those obtained 
in the experiments with the folded card as 
above described. 


If the sunlight is modified by any means, as 
in a red sunset effect, the tints are not true as 
compared with those in white sunlight. In 
making imitations of true tints and shades 
there are two principal methods or means, first 
the rotating disks, and second white and black 
pigments. 

In making tints by the use of the white disk 
with a color disk there is quite a definite im¬ 
perfection which seems like the introduction 
of a slightly violet effect. This is seen more 
prominently in the red and the blue tints 
perhaps than in any of the other colors. 

Pigmentary tints made by the mixture of 
white pigment with a standard color are more 
nearly like sunlight tints than the disk combi¬ 
nations. But on the other hand the shades 
made by the black disk in combination with a 
color disk are very much more correct than 
those secured by the admixture of black pig¬ 
ment with the pure pigment color. In fact the 
black disk effect is practically a true imitation 
of the color in shade or shadow. 

Hence while not entirely perfect the tones in 
tints and • shades secured with' the rotating 
disks are fully as true as can be made in any 



26 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


other way with the added advantage that the 
grade of the tone whether tint or shade can be 
definitely measured and recorded, which is not 
possible by any other means. 

INTERMEDIATE SPECTRUM HUES. 

With the introduction of tablets No. 3 comes 
the first presentation of the spectrum colors 
between the standards, as for example the 
orange-red and the red-orange, between the 
red and the orange, or the yellow-orange and 
tne orange-yellow betweeu the orange and the 
yellow. In the spectrum represented by the 
papers there are ten of these intermediate 
colors. There will also be found two other 
colors, violet-red and red-violet, which are not 
in the spectrum but are found in nature and 
the arts aud generally known as purples. If 
all these papers are pasted upon a strip of 
paper in their proper order and the two ends 
joined, this exhibition of color may be called 
a spectrum circuit and becomes a very impor¬ 
tant feature in the analytical study of color. 

The combination of two adjacent spectrum 
colors to make intermediate hues is very beauti¬ 
fully and rapidly shown with the disxs on a 
color wheel or color top. Right here it must 


be thoroughly impressed on every mind that 
in these combinations of standards either by 
means of the disks or in pigments, only those 
two colors must be used which are adjacent in 
the spectrum circuit. The reason for this re¬ 
striction is explained further on. 

VARIOUS GRAYS. 


Neutral 

Cool 

Warm 

Green 

No. 1 

P 

No.l 

No. 1 

No. I 

Neutral 

Cool 

Warm 

Green 

No.2 

No.2 

No.2 

No.2 


Fig. 3. 

In this same envelope, No. 3, are found 
tablets in various grays,-neutral gray, cool 
gray, warm gray, and green gray. The grays 
may seem on first thought less attractive than 
the brighter colors, but there is a subtle interest 
in the study of them which appeals to the child 
and adult alike when the subject is properly 
considered. The grays can be made in great 
variety by the use of the rotating disks and 
the pupil will learn how gray or broken colors 
merge into colored grays of which the warm 
and cool grays are principal types. After the 







EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


27 


gray tablets have been studied by laying them 
in various relations to each other, they also 
may be mounted on a bit of heavy paper in the 
order which best brings out their differences, 
and thus may form a valuable chart for future 
reference by the pupil as shown in Fig. 3. 

SPECTRUM CIRCUIT. 

As already explained in part I, we find in 
the solar spectrum types of all pure colors, ex¬ 
cept the purples between red and violet gf 
which the red-violet and violet-red papers 
furnish examples. 

If these eighteen papers found in envelope 
No. 3 are mounted side by side on a strip of 
paper and the ends joined to form an endless 
belt, with the colors on the outside, the arrange¬ 
ment of colors may be called a spectrum circuit, 
which is a convenient name to give this end¬ 
less sequence of colors. 

The tablets in envelope No. 4 furnish ma¬ 
terial for this entire spectrum circuit with a tint 
and a shade of each color. See Fig. 4. 

After having carried pupils up to this stage 
with the three preceding sets of tablets, each 
teacher will no doubt have her own opinion as 
to the best use to make of those in envelope 


No. 4. They serve as a review of all that has 
gone before, involving standards, hues of the 
standards, and a tint and 
shade of each of the eight¬ 
een colors in the spectrum 
circuit. The mounting of 
these to form a chart, show¬ 
ing in the central column 
the spectrum circuit in 
eighteen colors and on 
either side a tint and a 
shade of each, will furnish 
a final test of color precep- 
tion of no mean quality, 
and if retained by the pupil 
such a chart may long be 
a source of much pleasure 
and value to others who 
may have had no logical 
instruction in color. 


VR.T1. 

VR 

V.R.S.1. 

R.T.1. 

R 

R.S.1 

QRT1 

O.R. 

0.R.S.1 

R.0.T1. 

RO 

R.0.S.1 

0.T.1 

0. 

0.S1 

YOT1 

Y0. 

Y0.S.1 

0YT.1 

0Y. 

0Y.S.1 

YT.I 

Y. 

YS.1 

GYT1 

GY 

GYS1 

YGT.1 

YG. 

YG.S1 

G.T 1 

G 

GS.1 

B.GT.1 

BG. 

B.GS1 

GB.T.1 

G.B. 

G.B.S.1 

BT1 

B. 

B.S.1 

VB.T1 

V.B 

V.BS.1 

BVT1 

B.V. 

BVS.1 

V.T.1 

V. 

V.S.1 

RVT.1 

R.V. 

R.VS.1 


Fig. 4. The foregoing exercises 

should be varied by the frequent use of color 
disks, first by the teacher on the color wheel 
and then repeated by the pupils with their tops, 
or if the wheel is not provided, the use of the 
tops alone will serve the purpose, the teacher 


























28 


THE COLOR PRIMER . 


having one in her hand and showing the ma¬ 
nipulation and * explaining the reason for the 
selections of the disks. In the colored papers 
the variety of hues and tones is limited, but 
with the disks unlimited, and thus, passing be¬ 
yond the restricted experiments wuth the pa¬ 
pers, the use of the rotating disks gives us 
the means for: elaborating beautiful theories 
and establishing valuable facts. 

Up to this point nothing has been said of 
other colors than full pure colors and their 
tints and shades, except in the four kinds of 
grays. Of these the neutral gray is a pure 
gray if w r e may so call it, i. e., a standard gray ; 
the other three grays are colored grays. Of 
these the warm grays have, with the neutral, 
some color from the red and orange end of the 
spectrum, cool grays something approaching 
the blue, and green grays, as their name 
indicates, green. 

BROKEN COLORS. 

The most interesting class of colors, com¬ 
prising a very large majority of the material 
colors, has not been mentioned, the so called 
“broken colors” which are gray colors. These 
are shown and taught far better by the use of 


rotating disks than in any other,way ; in fact 
the investigation which led to the system.of 
color instruction here advocated first demon¬ 
strated the nature of these colors which include 
the tertiaries of the Brewster . theory. 

If we. put a piece of pure red material in the 
sunlight, much of the color disappears and we 
have a tint of the color which can be imitated 
by mixing white with the pigment. :If. we 
prepare a shade of the same red by introduc¬ 
ing black, into the pigment and then place it in 
a strong light we have a tint of a shade.of the 
red. Thisaa a,broken color and is very simply 
imitated by the use of color disks. For ex¬ 
ample : If we rotate an orange disk and a white, 
disk combined we have a tint of orange,* if an 
orange disk and a black disk, w:e have a shade 
of orange. If we now combine wdth the,orange 
disk both a white and a black disk we shall have, 
a tint of a shade or a shade.-ofra tint, which is 
a gray color or a broken color. This is. seen 
to be so .by analyzing the disk combinations, 
for a white and a black disk combined invariably* 
give neutral grays, and if to thes© we . add a 
color disk we have a gray color, or a^ series 
of gray colors as the proportions are varied. 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


29 


This is still farther complicated but is not 
rendered any more difficult to understand when 
we experiment with a red-orange instead of a 
pure orange, because we could make a disk 
from apiece of red-orange paper and add white 
and black disks to it. But this is unnecessary 
because the red and orange disks produce the 
same results and also afford us a correct analy¬ 
sis of the resulting color in its simplest terms, 
i. e., in terms of spectrum standards. Experi¬ 
ment has demonstrated that every color in 
nature or the arts can be imitated and ana¬ 
lyzed, and named in not more than four terms, 
namely two standards, and white and black. 
A color must be either a full spectrum-circuit 
color or a tint or a shade of such a color or it 
must be a broken tone of a spectrum-circuit 
color. Therefore every color can be imitated 
with not more than four disks, and named and 
recorded in terms of the accepted standards. 

So that whenever the whole World shall agree 
on six spectrum colors for standards, there will 
be established a universal language of color as 
there now is of music, based on scientific facts 
and phenomena, a result never approximated 
before this system was elaborated and still 


impossible by any other known methods. 

The standards named in the system here 
advocated have been adopted after many 
years of experiment and practical use^ and they 
have been located by their wave length in the 
several parts of the spectrum where they al¬ 
ways occur, and will always be the same. 

In the old but erroneous Brewster theory 
of three primaries, red, yellow and blue, three 
secondaries, orange, green and purple, and 
three tertiaries, russet, citrine and olive, the 
tertiaries were supposed to possess some sub¬ 
tile and peculiar value, resulting from the com¬ 
bination of two of the secondaries. But the 
system of color analysis here taught for the 
first time demonstrated that these are all bro¬ 
ken spectrum colors, and not peculiar in any 
way. 

For example a “russet” is a broken orange- 
red or red-orange. The “citrines” cover the 
colors between orange and yellow, although 
the term is so indefinite in the popular mind 
that hardly two color critics will agree as to 
what range of colors it includes,-while the 
“olives” are a line of broken green-blues or 
blue-greens. 


30 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


ANALYSIS OF COLORS. 

When the children have become familiar 
with the principles and facts regarding color 
thus far outlined, they will be intensely inter¬ 
ested in analyzing and naming the colors of 
many things which may be brought into the 
school room, and for this work before a class 
the color wheel is very useful as all in the class 
or the room may engage in the same work 
at one time. 

For such exercises the teacher may secure 
pieces of colored cloth or odd colored papers 
and many other kinds of manufactured or 
natural materials. Cloth or paper can best be 
examined by cutting a disk of any convenient 
size for use on the wheel, and placing it on the 
rotating spindle in front of the Maxwell disks 
selected for the analysis which of course must 
be larger than the sample. If the sample 
piece of material to be examined is large 
enough one of the smallest disks of the color 
wheel may be used as a pattern for cutting the 
material, and thus the hole may be accurately 
located at the center of the disk, which is quite 
necessary for good results. 

Very thin material may be fastened to a 


thick paper disk previously cut, and only a 
little pasting is necessary at the center and 
possibly three or four points at the circumfer¬ 
ence. 

A general interest may be secured by show¬ 
ing to the class the sample to be analyzed and 
asking them to name its color by telling which 
disks must be used to produce it by rotation. 
Such an exercise is sure to be interesting and 
instructive if properly conducted, no matter 
what the color or material may be. 

If other substances than cloth, paper, etc., 
are to be experimented with, the object may 
be held in good light as near as possible to the 
rotating disks. 

With the color top instead of the color 
wheel flat surfaces like paper, cloth, book 
covers, etc., can be best examined by spinning 
the top on the material and looking down on 
both while the top is in motion. 

Where pupils have the use of color tops 
a pleasing variety in their work may be intro¬ 
duced by allowing them to analyze the colors 
of common flowers and leaves. In this way 
two purposes may be served, for the color 
perceptions will be sure to be quickened and also 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


31 


the love of flowers cultivated by such employ¬ 
ment. At first a single flower or green leaf 
may be examined each day, the colors being 
imitated with the disks and the tops shown to 
the teacher for comparison with the flowers. 
The older children may make tests and record 
the results in a memorandum book. 

The very unsatisfactory condition of color 
nomenclature in the past may be emphasized 
to the class by ascertaining the fashionable 
names of some new colors of dress goods in 
the market and comparing them with the true 
names of the same material as indicated by 
the disks. 

In color analysis and color nomenclature by 
means of the rotating disks the fact must be 
constantly held in mind that not more than two 
spectrum standards are necessary in the match¬ 
ing of any color, and never more than four 
disks. If the color is not a modification of 
one of the spectrum standards it must be some 
form of an intermediate spectrum hue. It may, 
for example, be a tint of a yellow-green, in 
which case a yellow disk, a green disk and a 
white disk will be necessary, and if a shade of 
the same color, the green and yellow disks 


with a black disk will serve to determine its 
exact name. But if it is a broken green-yellow 
or yellow-green the four disks, yellow, green, 
white and black will be required, but a larger 
number is never necessary. 

EXACT COLOR NOMENCLATURE. 

On all occasions seek to impress on the 
minds of the pupils the value of true names. 
There are some true names which are not very 
exact names. Eor example we may say that 
a certain color is a dark broken red-orange, or 
we may state exactly that it is red 10 parts; 
orange 15 parts ; white 5 parts ; and black 70 
parts. Either of these names is correct and 
the less exact one for common use is far better 
than some fancy name of the dry goods dealer, 
as for example mahogany color. 

For another illustration, a piece of silk sold 
as “ecru” when tested proves to be yellow 18, 
orange 14, white 21, and black 47, or in simple, 
truthful terms a light broken orange-yellow, 
or a light gray orange-yellow. This last name 
is true and as good next year as this, but the 
name adopted by the manufacturer or dealer 
means nothing this season and changes next 
season. 


32 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


Another series of profitable tests may be 
conducted with much interest to the pupils in 
the form of puzzles. Let one pupil hold a 
sheet of card board in front of the color wheel 
while you make a combination of disks on the 
spindle and get them well “speeded up.” 
Then have the card removed and while the 
disks are in rotation ask the class to guess 
what colors of disks are being used. Of course 
when the rotation ceases the disks become a 
chart of the color and all can see whether any 
one has guessed correctly or not. 

One who has not had experience with pupils 
in using color disks can hardly imagine the 
interest with which they join in such color ex¬ 
ercises, nor the wonderfully rapid progess they 
make in seeing and naming colors correctly. 

ACCIDENTAL COLORS. 

Thus far in our simple course of study we 
have been learning to see and name colors. 
The color perceptions have been trained and 
sharpened so that many qualities of color may 
be discovered, analyzed and accurately com¬ 
pared with each other. In our progress we 
have now come to a point or .stage where a 
peculiar physical quality of our eyes called the 


accidental color or the after image may be 
profitably considered because of the wide influ¬ 
ence which it exerts in all of our color experi¬ 
ences. 

See pp. 17 and iS Part I. of this book. 

A first card for a class lesson regarding this 
phenomenon may be very readily prepared as 
follows: 

Cut a circle from’a square of standard red 
paper 4 x 4 inches, and mount it on a white 
card, say 6x12 inches as in Fig. 5. and make 

a prominent black 
dot at the center of 
the circle, and an¬ 
other dot at a simi¬ 
larly located point 
Fig. 5. on the other half or 

blank part of the card. To perform the ex¬ 
periment look intently at the dot in the center 
of the red circle for a half minute and then fix 
your vision on the other black dot for perhaps 
the same length of time and there will appear 
a circle of very light blue green, which is a tint 
of a color complementary to the spectrum red. 

If similar cards are prepared in the other five 
standard colors the a£ter image belonging to 





















EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR . 


33 


each may be seen and thus an indication se¬ 
cured of the color complementary to each of 
the standards. The origin of this term 
“complementary” is not always understood by 
those who use it. White light is the sum of 
all colors, and if we remove from white Tight 
one color, as red for example, the remaining 
color effect is the complement of the red in 
producing the white light, and hence is called 
the complementary color of red. 

If instead of a w r hite 
card on which to project 
the after image we use 
some other color we 
shall then have the after 
image combined with 
this other color on which 
it is projected. 

For example, as in Fig. 6, if we have a full 
red disk on a white card and on the other half 
of the card a larger square of a light tint of 
red, we shall have a blue-green after image 
projected on a tint of red, and these being com¬ 
plementary colors, the result will be a gray 
circle in a pink square. The color of this 
circle may vary from a pink gray through 


neutral gray to a blue-green gray, according to 
the nature or peculiar conditidn of the eye at 
different times ; as the after image is stronger 
with some persons than with others, and not at 
all times alike with the same person. 

If instead of a light red color the square is 
a tint of blue-green, the result will be a more 
brilliant blue-green circle in a lighter blue-green 
square. The reason for selecting a light tint 
on which to project the accidental color is 
that the accidental color effect is relatively 
very weak as compared with the effect of the 
full color under consideration, and hence in 
order to determine what color the combination 
of the two would produce each should be ap¬ 
proximately of the same strength, and there¬ 
fore we must use a tint rather than a full color 
for the background on the card. 

In all these experiments a little practice 
will secure very pleasing effects even if at 
first the trial is~not a success. The distance 
from the eyes at which the card will give 
best effects will naturally be somewhat dif¬ 
ferent for different persons. With a four 
inch circle a distance of eight to twelve feet 
is satisfactory. 



































34 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


Another line of similar experiments may 
be arranged to show the mixed contrasts of 
Chevreul. On the left hand end of the card 
Fig. 7 there is a 
circle of full color, r 
complementary t o 
its background 
square. For ex¬ 
ample let the circle I 
be full blue-green 
with its background Fig. 7. 

square a full red, and on the other end of the 
card a square of blue-green tint. Now look 
intently at the center of the blue-green circle, 
and it’s induced after effect will be a light red 
and that of the red square a tint of blue-green. 
Consequently when the eyes are fixed on the 
light blue-green square on the other end of the 
card the red effect excited by the blue-green 
circle will supplement the light blue-green of 
the card rendering it gray and the remainder 
of the square will be intensified by the blue- 
green after image of the red square. 

These experiments may be varied by using 
different colors complementary to each other, 
and in them may be found the key to a very 


large part of the good and bad color effects in 
nature, and possibly to the whole subject of 
color harmonies. 

A careful trial of the foregoing series of ex¬ 
periments will afford a very clear idea of all 
the various optical effects, produced by the 
accidental colors or afterimages, and especially 
those classed as “negative after images.” The 
value, to others than artists, of an acquaintance 
with the phenomena of simultaneous contrasts 
may be illustrated by a supposable case in real 
life. A lady wishes to purchase some material 
in dress goods or draperies, and has in mind a 
line of reds ; the salesman, if he has a practical 
knowledge of his business, notices, after show¬ 
ing a number of different pieces of goods rang¬ 
ing through reds, crimsons and pinks, that his 
customer is becoming quite critical and not al¬ 
together inclined to be suited. He therefore 
remarks that he has some quite beautiful goods 
in the peacock-blue or blue-green hues and 
persists in showing them to his customer in 
spite of her protests that she does not want 
anything of that kind. In the meantime, how¬ 
ever, the salesman has succeeded in keeping 
his blue-green goods before his customer’s eyes 


























EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


35 


long enough to serve his purpose, for when 
she now looks at her original selections, they 
seem to have wonderfully pure colors, and 
she does not realize how it has all come about, 
because in her day the time of the children 
was not wasted in playing with colored papers 
when they should have been learning their 
spelling lessons or multiplication table. 

CONTRAST OF COLOR. 

The phenomenon of contrast of color is seen 
when two differently colored surfaces are 
brought together side by side as in Fig. 8. 

This represents a 
card having on it four 
sections of color 
from yellow to green, 
namely yellow, 
green-yellow, 
Fig. 8. yellow-green and 

green. If this card is looked at intently for a 
few seconds with the eyes fixed on about the 
center of the band of colors the two central 
sections will seem to be graded in color from 
edge to edge, the green-yellow looking more 
green next the yellow and the yellow-green more 
yellow next the green. When this effect has 


been once experienced it increases and is more 
and more pronounced as the eyes become more 
affected, until it is impossible to believe that 
each of the four differently colored surfaces is 
of one uniform color from edge to edge. This 
effect may be very materially reduced and some 
times entirely obviated by outlining the figures 
or designs with white, black or gold as is often 
done in decorations in flat color. 

CONTRAST OF TONE. 

A similar contrasted effect is seen where 
several grays of graded tones are placed side 
by side in contact with each other and arranged 
in order from the light¬ 
est to darkest. This 
may be beautifully 
shown on the color 
wheel or top by draw¬ 
ing a disk in black and 
white as shown in Fig. 
9. In rotation this 
disk presents a series 
of neutral gray rings 
growing darker from 
the center to circumference. The color of each 
ring is a uniform gray from edge to edge, as we 
















































36 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


know because the notches are formed by radial 
lines, but the effect in rotation is far different, 
as each ring appears graded from edge to edge 
from a darker to a lighter tone of gray. 

Another series of illusions is seen if narrow 
strips of neutral gray paper are laid on a sheet 
of some full color, blue for example, as the 
gray no longer appears to be neutral gray, 
but a yellow gray. On red it has a greenish 
blue color, each colored paper producing its 
complementary effect on the gray. For some 
reason a gray is much more susceptible to this 
effect than white, and it also seems to be true 
that a gray is best adapted to give the comple¬ 
mentary effect when its tone is nearly like the 
tone of the complementary of the given color. 



A zigzag strip as in Fig. 10. produces a 
pleasing effect, perhaps better than a straight 
strip. 


This illusion is very beautifully shown on the 
color wheel as follows using three sizes of disks. 

For example first place a largest red disk on 
the spindle, then combine the white and black 
disks of the next smaller size, and put them 
on to the spindle in front of the red disk and 
last put the next smaller size red disk in front 
of all. By rotation there will then appear a 
neutral gray ring on a red ground. 

if the white and black disks are properly ad¬ 
justed so as to give a g. ay having a tone about 
like the blue-green complementary of red it will 
not seem possible that the ring is a neutral 
gray but rather a blue green gray. 

Although these illusions are very interesting, 
they are not introduced solely because of the 
special interest in each, but because it seems 
to be quite evident that the various phenomena 
of Chevreul’s simultaneous contrasts are very 
directly responsible for our sensations of color 
harmonies. This special point is not presented 
for argument, but as a suggestion to be kept 
in mind as we proceed to consider the harmonies 
cf colors and the discords of color which are 
as effective for pleasure or annoyance to a 
person of trained color perception as are 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


37 


musical harmonies or discords to the ear of the 
accomplished musician. 

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS. 

We may now return to the rotating disks on 
wheel or top for experiments regarding a some¬ 
what definite study of complementary colors. 
As already stated, the accidental color or after 
image of any colored surface is practically its 
complementary color. It is not usually suf¬ 
ficiently intense nor permanent enough to 
furnish very definite results in color investiga¬ 
tion or analysis, but it is sufficient to give us 
the key to our problems. If after taking red 
from white light the remaining effect or after 
image is as we have seen a color between blue 
and green, i. e., a compound ol' green and 
blue, we know that red, green and blue may 
be combined in such proportions as to produce 
the effect of white light. Therefore if we can 
determine this proportion we may solve the 
problem, and with the rotating disks this can 
be achieved better than by any other known 
means. In all practical color investigation 
we must base our experiments on material or 
pigmentary colors which are at best very impure 
as compared with the spectrum colors of sun¬ 


light, and therefore we cannot secure the pure 
white of sunlight when we combine the three 
colors either by mixing pigments or with the 
disks, but the disk combinations give very much 
better results than pigments and with disks in 
the standard red, green and blue, we may secure 
a positively neutral gray which is white in 
shadow or under a low degree of illumination. 



Fig, 11. 

Therefore if red, green and blue disks of the 
larger size are joined on the color top and on 
them are placed the small white and black disks 
in combination we have the means for solving 
this problem of complementary material colors 
more satisfactorily than in any other way. 


38 


THE COLOR PRIMER . 


This is shown in Fig. 11. Here the red, green 
and blue disks are combined in such propor¬ 
tions as to produce a neutral gray exactly like 
the gray made by the small white and black 
disks at the center. The proportions of the 



Fig. 12. 

color disks here shown are red 42, green 36, 
blue 22, and of the small disks, white 15, black 
85. With the color top the disks are so small 
that it is not possible to secure such accuracy 
as with the larger disks of the color wheel, 
but results with the top may be secured suf¬ 
ficiently accurate to demonstrate the principle 
in a most interesting manner. Having obtained 
with this arrangement of disks the match in 


grays, if red is taken from the combination 
leaving green 36 parts and blue 22 parts, and 
these two quantities are increased in their rela¬ 
tive proportion to fill an entire circle, we then 
shall have approximately green 62 parts and 
blue 38 parts, as in Fig. 12, and by rotation 
a blue-green which is complementary to red. 
This will be found a very interesting experi¬ 



ment and may be repeated to determine the 
complementary color of each of the other stand¬ 
ard colors, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue 
and Violet. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 
13, indicates approximately the complementary 
colors, although the yellow and blue are proba- 




EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR . 


39 


bly as nearly complementary to each other as 
can be determined in ordinary experiments. 
Thus we may demonstrate' 1 practically the falla¬ 
cy of the old idea that the complementary of 
red is green, of yellow, violet, and of blue, 
orange. 

COLOR HARMONIES. 

The chief use of color is to give pleasure 
rather than profit, therefore the harmonies of 
color constitute the principal aim in the study 
of color effects. 

It is the true determination of these qualities 
of color combinations for which color instruc¬ 
tion is designed to ultimately prepare its 
students. 

The aim of this system of color investigation 
is not only to analyze colors and thus be able 
to compare them with each other, and to 
compare the various opinions of individuals 
one with another, but ultimately to thus de¬ 
termine by general consent which color combi¬ 
nations are beautiful, which are fairly good, 
and which are ugly. These questions can be 
settled only by a majority vote, and the reason 
why practically nothing has thus far been 
decided is that there has been no language in 


which to discuss color combinations nor to 
record the deciding vote when taken. And 
thqs there is no evidence that the present 
generation is more cultured in color combina¬ 
tions than were our ancestors of many years 
ago, in fact we have no means for learning 
definitely what colors w r ere originally used in 
the works of the old masters because the pig¬ 
ments have faded and no record remains. 

Classification is a valuable feature in the 
study of any subject, and a logical classifica¬ 
tion of the harmonies of color is most earnest¬ 
ly to be desired. While this may not be ae- 
complished very perfectly for a long time, a 
very good beginning has been made in the 
selection of five general classes : Contrasted, 
Dominant, Complementary, Analogous, and 
Perfected. 

The Contrasted harmonies are those in which 
color is contrasted with non-color, or more 
accurately in which an active color, i. e., a 
color from the spectrum circuit or any of its 
fairly pure tones, is contrasted with a passive 
color, white, black, gray, silver or gold. The 
simplest and one of the most pleasing of this 
class is a spectrum color in any of its tones 


40 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


with white. In these combinations one result 
is common to all, the white is more intense and 
the color more brilliant, because the comple¬ 
mentary effect, which has been noticed in the 
grays combined with color, is seen in a very 
limited degree in the white, and as far as it 
operates tends to intensify the color. We 
have already, under simultaneous contrast, ob¬ 
served the phenomena of contrasts, but little 
of this effect has yet been fully comprehended, 
and it will be possible to completely classify 
these only when a large number of accurate 
experiments have been made and recorded in a 
logical and definite nomenclature which shall 
be generally accepted. 

While contrasted harmonies or combinations 
are more prominent and common, and seem¬ 
ingly the simplest, this class no doubt is more 
important and more general in its effects than 
any other, because in fact closely allied with if 
not identically involved in all the others. 

Dominant harmonies are made by combin¬ 
ing tones from the same color scale, and hence 
they are the simplest to make when the colored 
papers are employed. For example, a red 
tint No. 1, and a red shade No. 1, or again a 


green-blue tint, green-blue and a green-blue 
shade. 

Complementary harmonies are those in which 
are combined opposite or complementary colors 
in the spectrum circuit. Tints of one color 
with shades of its complementary produce a 
more pleasing harmony than do complementa- 
ries which are similar in tone. 

Analogous harmonies are produced by the 
combination of tones from scales of neighbor¬ 
ing colors in the spectrum circuit. For ex¬ 
ample, a simple combination would be yellow 
tint No. 1, green-yellow, and yellow-green 
shade No. 2. 

Perfected harmonies are those in which the 
general effect of one analogous harmony is 
complementary to that of another analogous 
harmony or in which the key tones of the an¬ 
alogous harmonies are complementary to each 
other. 

COLOR STANDARDS, COLOR ANALYSIS 
AND COLOR DEFINITIONS. 

All who have given intelligent thought to 
elementary color instruction have been met 
with the one difficulty that there have been no 
Standards on which to base investigations and 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


41 


no nomenclature in which to record results of 
experiments. It must be evident to any one 
who studies this subject carefully that there 
can be no advance in its investigation until the 
fundamental truths regarding it have been dis¬ 
covered and some language generally accepted 
in which to express and discuss the results of 
experiments. 

A popular writer on this subject has said : 
“To a chemist I can describe in language of 
the most precise and positive kind exactly the 
product I am for the moment talking about 
-and give the symbols-but this is impossible 
without a nomenclature so far as color is con¬ 
cerned ; and it is only when this nomenclature 
has been formulated that the study of color 
work commences to be a science, for without 
this there can be no measurement of color sen¬ 
sations, or if it were possible to measure these 
w*e have no language in which to explain it 
that could be universally understood.” 

It is because of the general lack of knowl- 
ege regarding color that the vocabulary of 
color terms is so meager and so loosely em¬ 
ployed. There is no other familiar subject 
where the descriptive words are so indefinite, 


or where even educated people find so much 
difficulty in expressing their ideas correctly. 
The dictionaries themselves furnish but little 
help, as it is their province to give accepted 
definitions rather than to coin new ones. 

Hence there seems to be no hope for a better 
color nomenclature except in a popular ed¬ 
ucation, through which there may be cultivated 
a definite use of words to interpret the various 
phases and facts of color which at present are 
more easily recognized than expressed, except 
by means of material samples. 

It is not only in actual color names that 
our language is at fault but in the various 
qualities and modifications of color. For ex¬ 
ample, the word shade is commonly used to 
express any quality of a color properly covered 
by the three words hue, tint and shade. 

Because of the differences in the opinions 
of physicists and colorists regarding the sub¬ 
ject of color, a full list of concise and accur¬ 
ate color terms with their definitions in clearly 
understood words can hardly be looked for at 
present or in the immediate future, and yet 
as there must be a beginning, the following are 
offered as fundamental terms and definitions. 


42 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


Standard Colors. The best pigmentary 
or material imitation of each of the six spec¬ 
trum colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue 
and violet, and white and black. 

Spectrum Standards. The six colors in 
the solar spectrum definitely located by their 
wave lengths as follows in ten millionths of a 
millimeter: Red, 6571 ; Orange, 6085 ; Yellow, 
5793 ; Green, 5164 ; Blue, 4695 ; Violet, 4210. 

Pigmentary Colors. All colors used and 
produced in the arts and sciences such as paints 
or dyes and material surfaces and substances 
to which they are applied. This is in distinc¬ 
tion from natural colors as in flowers and the 
Solar Spectrum. 

Pure Colors. Pigmentary colors approach¬ 
ing as nearly as possible to corresponding 
spectrum colors. 

Hue. That quality of color which changes 
from one location to another along the line of 
the spectrum circuit. The difference between 
a pure red and a pure orange is one of hue 
only. An orange hue of red is a standard red 
mixed with a smaller quantity of orange. 

Tint. Any pure or full color mixed with 
white or reduced by strong sunlight. 


Shade. A full color in shadow or obscured 
light. In disk combinations, a standard color 
and black produce, by rotation, a shade of the 
color. 

Scale. A scale of colors is a series of 
colors consisting of a pure or full color at the 
center and graduated by a succession of steps 
to a light tint on one side and a deep shade on 
the other. 

Tone. Each step in a color scale is a tone 
of that color. 

Warm Colors. Red, orange and yellow, 
and colors in which they predominate. 

Cool Colors. Ordinarily those colors 
which are not warm, especially blue and its 
modifications by green on one side and violet 
on the other. 

Neutral Gray. White in shade or shadow. 
Pure black and white mixed by disk rotation. 

Warm Gray. A neutral gray with the ad¬ 
mixture of a small quantity of red, orange or 
yellow. 

Cool Gray. A neutral gray with a small 
quantity of blue or blue-green. 

Broken Colors. Gray colors. A most 
interesting and beautiful line of colors. A 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


43 


tint of a color in a shade or shadow, or a shade 
in sunlight gives the effect of a broken color. 

Complementary Colors. As white light is 
the sum of all colors, if we take from white 
a given color the remaining color is the com¬ 
plement of the given color, or its complemen¬ 
tary color, in forming white. 

Spectrum Circuit. If a pigmentary imita¬ 
tion of the Solar Spectrum be made with the 
addition of violet-red at the red end and red- 
violet at the violet end and the two ends joined, 
a spectrum circuit is the result. 

Primary Colors. A term eroneously ap¬ 
plied to red, yellow and blue by Sir David 
Brewster, who claimed that there were three 
distinct classes of colors, Primary, Secondary 
and Tertiary from which all other colors in 
nature and art could be made. See “ Num¬ 
ber of Standards” page 11, part I. 

Secondary Colors. According to the 
eroneous Brewster theory, orange, green and 
purple or violet were produced by the com¬ 
bination of red, yellow and blue in pairs and 
were called secondary colors. 

Tertiary Colors. An indefinite series of 
broken colors in the Brewster System, made 


by combining the secondary colors, orange, 
green and purple in pairs to form russet, 
citrine and olive. See ‘ Broken Colors,’ page 28. 

WATER COLORS. 

All color instruction leads up to the use of 
pigments, and when pupils have been thorough¬ 
ly taught the systematic matching and naming 
of colors by means of the colored papers and 
the rotating disks, the teacher may profitably 
take them a step higher in their work by the 
introduction of water colors, which furnish 
the simplest form of pigments. 

In the employment of this new material there 
is nothing new to be learned except its ma¬ 
nipulation, as the principles are the same and 
the names of the standards and all the colors 
produced by their combinations are familiar. 
To make the transition simple it is necessary 
that the colors of the pigments be as nearly 
as possible like the standard spectrum colors 
found in the papers. 

For this purpose water colors are now pre¬ 
pared in various forms, dry cakes, semi- 
moist in pans and moist in tubes, which as far 
as is possible with the chemical limitations, 
are made to match the six spectrum standards 


44 


THE COLOR PRIMER . 


already known by the pupils, with the addition 
of two or three grays. 

Tints are produced by using thin washes 
made by diluting the pigment with water, and 
for the shades the grays are mixed with the 
standards. 

No such accurate study of color effects and 
color terms can be secured by the use of 
pigments as are possible with the papers and 
rotating disks, but with the pigments in the 
six colors and grays as prepared to accom¬ 
pany this system of color instruction, very 
rapid and valuable progress can be made by 
young children in the transition from the 
papers to pigments. 

They have for example already learned that 
the colors between red and orange in the 
spectrum circuit are made by combining the 
red and orange disks on the color top It is 
just so with the paints, and the same is true 
throughout the spectrum circuit, but instead 
of making two intermediate spectrum colors 
between red and orange as are found in the 
papers the pupils can now make an indefinite 
number, similar to the results with the disks 
and by the same combinations of colors. 


COLOR-BLINDNESS. 

The subject of color-blindness is of great 
importance and should receive careful atten¬ 
tion from the teacher, but in the past very 
much has been charged to color-blindness 
which has been the result of color ignorance. 
With the best instruction in color from the 
kindergarten to the high school much of the 
so-called color-blindness will disappear. 

In 1879 Dr. B. Joy Jeffries was engaged to 
test the pupils in the public schools of Boston 
for color-blindness, and in a pamphlet after¬ 
wards published containing his report to the 
school board he says : “ In my report to the 

Boston school board on the examination of 
twenty-eight thousand children for color-blind¬ 
ness I said 4 1 env} 7 the boys and girls who 
show on every school blackboard what can be 
done by thorough ajid systematic instruction 
of our sense form ’ and I said ‘ The cultiva¬ 
tion of the other sense our eye possesses, that 
of color, is at present almost wholly neglected, 
as was once the sense of hearing and the 
voice.’ The defect in this sense, viz., color¬ 
blindness, was of course as unknown as 
unrecognized.” . . . . . 



EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


Dr. Jeffries also says : “The - teaching color 
and color names has been somewhat intro¬ 
duced into our primary schools where of course 
it must be commenced. There is, however, 
and this perhaps very naturally, no system 
whatever pursued as is with the education of 
the voice, the ear, and the sense of form in 
drawing.” 

According to the theories of Dr. Hugo 
Magnus, who has given much care to investi¬ 
gations regarding color-blindness this defect 
exists as red, green and violet blindness. 

The red and green practically include each 
other, while violet blindness includes yellow 
blindness, but is extremely rare. The term 
“color-blindness” means that colors ap¬ 
proaching the one to which the person- is 
blind, appear more or less gray. A person 
who is red-green color-blind sees both of these 
colors as gray, while yellow and blue are seen 
in their true colors or approximately so. 

Certain color tests should be so arranged 
as to detect either a defect in the brain by 
which it is difficult for the pupil to remember 
the names of the several colors, or in the eye, 
by reason of which he cannot see a difference 


45 

between dissimilar colors. A person totally 
color-blind would see in the solar spectrum a 
band of grays only in various tones. 

Because of the disagreement among prom¬ 
inent scientists regarding color-blindness teach¬ 
ers in the elementary grades cannot reasonably 
be expected to fully understand the various 
phases of the subject, but no color-blind child 
can be subject to the modern system of color 
instruction, even for a short time, without 
suggesting a radical defect to any interested 
teacher who understands the simplest elements 
of the subject. There can be no better tests 
than matching and arranging the spectrum 
colors by means of the paper tablets. If a 
teacher discovers that a child is unable to 
give the name of a color, this fact does not 
necessarily indicate a lack of color vision, 
but if after a reasonable trial, the various 
tests should seem to indicate a defect 
in this faculty, memoranda should be made 
from time to time for future reference, and if 
the result should seem to show a radical lack 
of normal color perception, the parents should 
be informed of the fact, and a competent 
expert consulted. 


46 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


CUTTING AND PASTING DESIGNS 
IN COLORED PAPERS. 

The work of cutting and pasting colored 
papers affords the earliest and perhaps the 
most profitable exercise in color combinations 
because it is comparatively cleanly. It is 
educationally valuable in the line of manual 
training in neatly cutting to lines as well as in 
marking the shapes by the use of cardboard 
tablets of various geometrical forms. The 
aesthetic training is found in the combination 
of various forms as well as the several colors. 
The occupations of drawing, cutting and past¬ 
ing colored designs in papers to illustrate the 
various harmonies furnish most valuable desk 
work, covering a considerable range of useful 
occupations and mental training. 

The order in which the colors can most 
profitably be taken up may to some extent be 
determined by a careful consideration of the 
several harmonies as classified under the title 
“color harmonies,” page 39. A contrasted 
harmony may be produced with colored papers 
by mounting on a white ground designs cut 
from any one color of paper. In this work 


form is the chief feature, as the contrasted 
effects which are found in all color combina¬ 
tions are reduced to a minimum when a single 
color is mounted on a white surface. When 
a gray surface is used the effect termed, by 
Chevreul, simultaneous contrast—See acci¬ 
dental colors, p. 32 —is most pronounced, and 
should not be unnecessarily encountered by 
the youngest children, before they are old 
enough to understand to some extent an ex¬ 
planation of the phenomena involved ; hence a 
white surface is most favorable for early 
work. 

In a small book entitled Practical Color 
Work for primary and ungraded schools, by 
Miss Helena P. Chace, the author says : 

“The application of color to form, in the 
lowest grade, if confined to the arrangement 
of borders, is very simple; and is quite suit¬ 
able for desk work, or busy work. The trac¬ 
ing and cutting of figures in this grade 
require much oversight and individual instruc¬ 
tion, hence the work in this direction is 
necessarily slow. In the next two grades it 
may be done more rapidly, and with greater 
satisfaction. Tracing around tablets is an 


EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR. 


47 


important antecedent of colored paper work, 
and may be done upon manilla paper. No 
units shonld be cut until some degree of skill 
in tracing has been acquired. Pencils used 
for tracing should have long, sharp points, 
and the side of the lead should touch the 
tablet. In passing around corners push the 
pencil a little beyond the tablet, thus avoiding 
a blunt or rounding effect. If the pencil is 
dull the line traced will be too far from the 
edge of the tablet, or if it is held in the 
ordinary position for drawing the point is 
liable to slip under the tablet. The practice 
in tracing should be followed by practice in 
cutting the units traced. For beginners a 
single figure of medium size is better than 
two or three smaller ones. In cutting circles 
the best effect is gained by teaching the pupil 
to cut close to the line outside. If a cut is 
made inside the line the circle is ruined, but if 
too far outside it is possible to improve the 
unit by a little trimming afterward. In cut¬ 
ting units with straight edges it is better to 
train the children to cut through the line itself, 
otherwise figures traced from the same tablet 
may vary in size and shape, as very slight 


deviations become quite noticeable when the 
unit is mounted. When a reasonable degree 
of skill in tracing and cutting has been 
developed then work with colored papers may 
begin. 

The ordinary mucilage bottle is unsuitable 
for the use of young children because the 
handle of the brush is liable to become sticky, 
which is almost sure to result in an unsightly 
spot upon the work. Glass mucilage cups 
with screw caps, into which but very little 
mucilage has been poured, are very satisfac¬ 
tory. Small camel’s hair brushes will pro¬ 
duce much better results than the ordinary 
mucilage brushes, but they must be cleansed 
and dried as' soon as convenient after each 
lesson. 

If you use thick mucilage do not blame 
your pupils for lack of neatness as the best 
work can be done when the smallest amount 
of mucilage is used. A thick paper requires 
a heavier quality and more in quantity than a 
thin one. Too much mucilage will make a 
thin paper stretch. Before mounting, it is 
well to lay the unit face downward upon a 
flat surface, free from dust , and apply the 


48 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


mucilage aronnd the edge, but not touching 
the extreme edge; this allows for the spread¬ 
ing which is sure to take place if too much of 
the adhesive material is used. Then, lifting 
the figure carefully, place it in position with¬ 
out letting the edges touch until you are sure 
that its location is right. Press with the ball 
of the thumb firmly and rapidly from the 
center toward the edge, being careful not to 
pound or rub the paper. This insures smooth¬ 
ness. If not pressed with sufficient prompt¬ 
ness the paper may both stretch and blister. 
If not gummed around the edges the work is 
liable to curl, and may become torn in hand¬ 
ling. Pupils’ hands must be free from dirt 
and perspiration and must be wiped upon a 
clean cloth after each pressure. If their 
hands perspire freely let them press with a 
cloth instead of the hand ; but much care will 
be necessary, or a second application of the 
cloth may leave a spot. 

In mounting borders, if a gray background 
is used that should be gummed into position 
first. Both margins should be gummed along 
the center of their entire length, and pressed 
in their proper places. This will assist the 


pupil in spacing. The units should then be 
arranged and removed one at a time, gummed 
and returned to place. In mounting rosettes 
the same principle applies but the central 
piece cannot, of course, be added until the 
rest of the design is complete.” 

A few simple borders and rosettes are here 
shown as suggestions of what can be done 
in cutting and pasting. Ready-cut papers in 
several of the forms are found in the Kinder¬ 
garten material which may be used for mount¬ 
ing, by children who are not competent 
to mark and cut their forms. 



Fig. 15. 



EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR . 


49 



Fig. 16. 



Fig. 17. 



Fig. 18. 




Fig. 20. 




Fig. 22. 




50 


THE COLOR PRIMER 




Fig. 25. 




Fig. 28. 




Fig. 30. 



iiife 


Fig. 31. 


The work of cutting and pasting indicated 
in its simplest forms in these few suggestions 
which embrace the most elementary geometric 
forms only, may be profitably extended to 
a large variety of free cutting with folding. 
Directions in detail for this class of work can 
be found in “Papers and Scissors in the 
School Room,” published by Milton Brad¬ 
ley Co. 












































































THE BREWSTER THEORY. 


51 


MODERN CRITICISMS OF 

THE BREWSTER THEORY OF COLOR. 

In the preceding pages brief mention has 
been made of the Brewster theory of color in 
which red, yellow and blue are designated as 
“ primary colors;” orange, green and purple, 
made by mixing the primary pigments in pairs, 
are called “secondaries;” and citrine, russet 
and olive, formed by combining the secondary 
pigments in pairs, are classed as “ tertiaries.” 

Probably few teachers who have intelligently 
adopted the theories on which these terms 
are founded will be willing to accept radical 
criticism of them without very definite corrob¬ 
orating facts supported by recognized author¬ 
ities. Therefore a brief presentation of this 
color theory and the objections which may be 
truthfully urged against it seems necessary to 
a clear understanding of the subject and of 
the position and claims of the writer as 
expressed very briefly in these pages. 

The theory of color based on the three 
classes designated as primary, secondary and 
tertiary colors, has not been discussed at 
length in the body of this manual because 


the writer believes it should not be mentioned 
to pupils unless reference to it seems neces¬ 
sary to correct erroneous impressions received 
by them outside the school. 

It is hoped that with truthful instruction in 
our primary schools regarding color perception 
and color analysis these old and false theo¬ 
ries will soon have been relegated to the past 
along with many other things in elementary 
education that have been stumbling blocks, 
because either wholly bad or so largely based 
on false premises as to be not only useless 
but actual hindrances to progress. 

The Brewster theory of color has very 
largely dominated color instruction in the past 
because so generally accepted by artists, 
although for generations rejected as valueless 
by physicists. It is now known to be based 
on false beliefs to such an extent that it is 
erroneous in every peculiar feature claimed 
for it. 

Even among our most intelligent lovers of 
color this old error must for a long time be met 
and combatted not only in its boldest and most 
evidently pernicious forms, but also in its 
more insidious and plausible phases by which 


52 THE COLO 

the same false ideas are somewhat concealed 
under new garbs. 

Doubtless it will seem that one who claims 
no superior scientific or artistic knowledge 
must be incompetent to make such broad 
statements unsupported by recognized author¬ 
ity, and therefore the following extracts from 
opinions of those held high in public esteem 
are offered for careful consideration in addi¬ 
tion to the expression of the writer’s personal 
convictions. 

Prof. A. H. Church of the Royal Academy 
of Arts, London, says in a valuable book 
entitled “ Colour 

“ In an old and widely prevalent theory of 
colour it was assumed that there were three 
primary colours, red, yellow and blue, and 
that by mixing these in various proportions 
all other hues could be produced. Sir David 
Brewster not only lent the sanction of his 
great scientific authority to these assumptions 
but developed them into an elaborate theory 
which has met, until recent years, with very 
general acceptance. Yet Brewster’s view of 
the existence of these overlapping coloured 
tracts in the spectrum is one that is incompat- 


PRIMER. 


ible with the simple character and definite 
ref Tangibility of every ray in the spectrum, 
with the entirely subjective character of the 
sensation of light, and with the simplest 
experimental tests of its truth which can be 
applied.” 

Regarding the tertiary colors of this 
theory, Prof. Church says: “The tertiary 
colours are supposed to be formed by the 
union of the three primaries in proportions 
different to those required to form white. 
But in reality tertiary hues are impossible. 
The tertiaries described by Chevreul, Hay, 
Field, Redgram and a host of other writers 
on color in its relations to art and industry, 
are nothing more than the dulled tones or 
broken tones of their so-called primary and 
secondary colours.” 

The practical truth of this statement regard¬ 
ing tertiaries is proved in no other way so 
well as with the rotating disks. 

Dr. Ogden Rood of Columbia University 
says in his Text-book of Color : “This theory 
of the existence of three fundamental kinds 
of light, red, yellow and blue, is found in all 
except the most recent text-books on physics, 


THE BREWSTER THEORY. 


53 


and is almost universally believed by artists, 
nevertheless it will not be difficult to show 
that it is quite without foundation.” 

Although this was published more than 
fifteen years ago the statement regarding 
artists is true to-day with the exception of 
some who have given attention specially to 
color instruction in elementary schools and 
thus have had their attention called to the 
old errors. 

Speaking of certain experiments regarding 
the effect of colored light on colored surfaces 
Prof. Rood says : “They are certainly useful 
in teaching us, when studying from nature, 
fearlessly to follow even the most evanescent 
indications of the eye, utterly regardless of 
the fact that they disobey laws which have 
been learned from the palette.” 

Nature surely is a better teacher than the 
palette or Sir David Brewster and his follow¬ 
ers. 

In a small pamphlet entitled “Hints for 
Teachers of Physiology,” by Dr. Bowditch, 
of Harvard University, the author suggests a 
simple hand-made “color teetotum,” the fore¬ 
runner of the present popular “Color Top,” 


and in this connection makes the following 
explanation of the two phases of the red, 
yellow and blue theory of primary colors : 

“If, for instance, a tilue and a yellow disk 
are placed upon the teetotum in such a way 
that each occupies about half the surface, 
the mixing of these colors by the rapid move¬ 
ment of the teetotum will produce the effect 
of white light, since blue and yellow are com¬ 
plementary colors. * * * * 

“The experiment with blue and yellow 
paper will doubtless suggest to the mind of 
some pupil familiar with painting, the question 
why blue and yellow thus mixed produce 
white instead of green, as when mixed on the 
painter’s palette. To explain this point the 
pupils may be requested to look through a 
piece of blue glass and a piece of yellow 
glass placed so as to overlap each other. It 
will be seen that the light coming through 
both glasses has a green color. 

“ In accordance with the Young-Helmholtz 
theory of color, these phenomena are ex¬ 
plained as follows : The retina contains ele¬ 
ments specially adapted to be stimulated by 
rays of light of the three primary colors, red, 


54 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


green and violet. The sensation of white light 
is produced by the simultaneous stimulation of 
all three sets of elements, while that of yellow 
light is due to the stimulation of the red and 
green perceiving elements, and that of blue 
light to the stimulation of the green and violet 
perceiving elements. Hence, when blue light 
and yellow light fall together upon the retina, 
as in the experiment with the teetotum, all 
three sets of retinal elements are stimulated 
and the sensation of white light results. 

“On the other hand, blue and yellow glass 
owe their respective colors to the fact that the 
former absorbs the red rays and transmits the 
violet and green rays to the eye, thus produc¬ 
ing the sensation of blue; while the latter 
absorbs the violet rays and transmits the 
green and red rays, thus producing the 
sensation of yellow. The green rays there¬ 
fore are the only rays that can get through 
both sorts of glass. Hence the sensation of 
green light is produced when white light is 
transmitted through both blue and yellow 
glass before it falls upon the retina. The 
mixing of colors upon the retina by the rapid 
revolution of the teetotum may be described 


as a process of addition; while in the experi¬ 
ment with colored glasses a successive subtrac¬ 
tion of the different colored constituents of 
white light occurs. The mixing of colored 
pigments resembles the latter process, since their 
color depends upon their power to absorb rays 
of certain colors , and reflect back others to the 
eye.” 

‘Although it may seem unreasonable on first 
thought it is nevertheless true that a definite 
knowledge as to which colors are complemen¬ 
tary to each other is as necessary to good art 
as the knowledge of the effects on each other 
of two adjacent colors. On this point Prof. 
Barnard, in his elaborate book “The Theory 
and Practice of Landscape Painting in Water 
Colors,” writes as follows: “Thus the colors 
of material objects vary according to the light 
by which they are viewed. A sand-bank for 
instance, observed partly in a bright light and 
partly in shadow, will not appear altogether 
of its true color, yellow. The part under 
shadow will not reflect a sufficient portion of 
yellow rays, and the bright yellow of the 
other part will have a tendency to produce on 
the eye the effect of the accidental color.” 


THE BREWSTER THEORY. 


55 


The problem in this case is, What is the 
resultant effect of the complementary of yel¬ 
low when projected on the gray yellow of the 
shadow? The complementary of yellow is 
a blue, very slightly violet, and therefore the 
effect must be a result which can be imitated 
by rotating combined disks of yellow, blue 
and violet, with the addition of a black disk 
to supply the shadow, cast on the yellow, arid 
this result will necessarily be either a yellow- 
gray, a neutral-gray or a violet-blue gray, 
but by no possibility a green such as results 
by the mixture of yellow and blue pigments. 

Thus it is absolutely necessary for best 
results that an art student shall be able to 
correctly predict what color will result from 
certain conditions which may be suggested to 
him or which he may encounter in nature, in 
order that he may reproduce the color effect 
correctly, so greatly is vision influenced by 
mind. For example, if the interior of a 
room is tinted blue and the light in the 
room comes through yellow glass in the win¬ 
dows the color of the walls will be a gray, 
either a neutral gray, a yellow gray or a blue 
groy, according to the relative strength of 


color in glass and ceiling, but the Brewster 
theory applied to this condition would dictate 
the use of green for the interior. Again, if 
we spread over a blue ground a veil of yellow 
lace and view it from a distance the effect is 
a gray, but an artist educated according to 
the Brewster theory if making such a compo¬ 
sition without having all the conditions in his 
model, might assume that the yellow veil and 
blue vase should form a green, in fact tradi¬ 
tion says this has actually occurred on an 
occasion when the yellow lace was not at 
hand but was introduced for its effect in the 
general composition. 

Water Color paints corresponding as nearly 
as possible to the Bradley Standards have 
been put on the market and thus render possi¬ 
ble and simple many interesting and valuable 
details of color investigation in this line, 
which heretofore have not been practicable in 
elementary experimentation. 

Asa test of the truth and practical value 
of the Brewster theory, the standard red, 
yellow and blue pigments of this line of water 
colors may be selected and combined in pairs 
to form the secondary colors, orange, green 


56 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


and violet or purple of the Brewster school, 
and the best results in each combination can 
be chosen for comparison with the correspond¬ 
ing standard colors. Such experiments have 
been made with the following results : 

First, the red and vellow pigments com¬ 
bined in different proportions produce various 
colors from yellow-red to red-yellow. From 
these several mixtures of pigments applied to 
paper one of the colors was selected as the 
nearest approximation to the orange of the 
original set of six pigmentary spectrum stand¬ 
ards. Similar experiments were made with 
the green and with the violet. These selected 
samples of secondary colors, orange, green 
and purple when analyzed with Maxwell disks 
of the Bradley standard colors give the follow¬ 
ing equations, showing results so definite that 
they can be fully corroborated with the small 
disks of the color top if a color wheel is not 
available. 

The secondary orange thus made by mixing 
the red and yellow pigments when compared 
with combined disks of standard orange, 
white and black, equals in a total of 100 
parts, standard orange 46, white 3, black 51. 


A similar analysis of the green made from 
yellow and blue pigments is standard green 
24, white 3, black 73. The violet made from 
red and blue pigments is standard violet 21, 
white 1, black 78. Thus it is seen that the 
orange is shown to be less than one-half pure 
color and each of the other two less than one- 
quarter pure. 

The definite selection of six spectrum colors 
as superior to three, five or seven, the location 
of these colors in the solar spectrum by then- 
wave lengths and the closest practicable 
material imitation of them, constitute the 
peculiar features of the Bradley Color Stand¬ 
ards. The use of the Maxwell rotating disks 
made in these six standard colors and white 
and black furnishes a definite nomenclature 
of colors, simple, accurate and convenient, the 
Bradley colored papers afford a pure and 
economical material for primary color teaching, 
the corresponding water color pigments pro¬ 
vide a means for carrying out the same prin¬ 
ciples in higher art, and the whole system 
brings us into as close acquaintance with the 
pure colors of nature as the limitations of 
material colors will allow. 


PHRT Ill. 

’ > VT7 

HOW WE SEE COLORS. 


r 


•n t' 


•i 


(/ 



HOW TO SEE AND TALK ABOUT COLOR. 


WHITE LIGHT CONTAINS ALL THE COLORS. 


I suppose you know, children, that all the 
colors are wrapped np in the sunlight. Yes, 
the white light which is all around us contains 
some of every color you ever saw. How do 
you suppose I can prove this to you? Why, 
if we could only manage to get one little beam 
of sunlight all by itself in the dark, and pick 
it to pieces, we could find out what it is made 
of, just as you pull a flower to pieces and see 
all its different parts. 

I am going to show you how we can spread 
out the different parts of a small piece of 
sunshine and look at them one by one and 
see all the beautiful colors. This will be one 
of the prettiest sights yon ever looked at. 

OUR EYES MUST HAVE LIGHT. 

But first let me tell you a little more about 
the light and how it is that we can see the 
things about us, and then you will understand 
the experiment better. If some of yoti were 


shut up with me in a room without a window 
or open door, or a single crack to let a ray 
of light in, and we had no lamp or other light 
it would be pitch dark. We could not see one 
another nor anything in the room, and so we 
know that we must have light in order to see 
the shape or color of any object. 

If a lighted lamp were brought into this 
dark room, we should at once see the bright 
flame because the lamp would send out rays of 
light to our eyes. Then we could see the 
white walls of the room, because the rays of 
light would strike against them and rebound 
to our eyes, just as a ball, when thrown 
against the wall, will rebound to your hands. 
The other objects in the room could also be 
seen, for they would send back to our eyes 
either all or a part of the rays of light which 
fell upon them. 

Now let us go out of the dark room with 



4 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


its dingy lamp light into the bright sunshine, 
and here we find the same thing true. The 
light of the sun falls on the houses, the grass, 
the trees, the sky, and is reflected back to 
our eyes. When we stop to think of all this 
it seems quite wonderful, because the same 
light which shines on the brick block falls 
also on the trees, and yet the bricks are red 
and the leaves of the trees are green. 
Another house may be white and the flowers 
in your garden are blue and pink and violet, 
and still we see all these objects because the 
same light from the sun falls on them and is 
reflected to our eyes. Now you begin to see 
that what I said at the start is true, about all 
the colors being wrapped up in some way in 
the sunshine. 

We get so used to looking at these colored 
objects that we do not realize how wonderful 
it all is, and do not even ask how it is that we 
can see such beauty all around us. No one 
knew much about it a few years ago, but 
now it can be explained by simple experiments. 

I will tell you the secret in a single sen¬ 
tence. When the sun shines on a house 
painted white all the light is thrown back to 


our eyes, but when the same sunlight falls on 
the green leaf of a tree, part of the light is 
lost to our senses and only the green rays are 
reflected to our eyes. 

THE WORK OF THE PRISM. 

Now let us go into the dark room again 
and I will show you how to pick a bit of sun¬ 
light to pieces. All we want is a big sheet of 
white cardboard and a thick piece of glass 
with three edges, called a triangular glass 
prism. When everything is ready we let a 
little beam of the bright sunlight into the room 
through an opening in the window shutter. 
Then we put the prism right in this streak of 
light in such a way that the rays are thrown 
upon the cardboard, and what has happened? 
Why, instead of a white spot on the cardboard 
the glass prism has separated the beam of 
sunshine into its different parts, and we see a 
beautiful band of colors, which you will 
notice is like a piece of a very bright rainbow. 
The drops of water in the air sometimes act 
on the sunshine much as the prism does, and 
that makes the wonderful rainbow. 

THE SIX STANDARD COLORS. 

This band or patch of color is called the 


HOW TO SEE COLOR . 


5 


sun spectrum or the solar spectrum, and if we 
have succeeded in getting a good one you can 
pick out at least six colors, namely, red, 
orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. You 
know these colors because you have seen them 
in familiar objects, such as a red apple, an 
orange, a lemon or a buttercup, green leaves 
and grass, the blue sky and the modest violet. 

In teaching color these six have been taken 
as standards and colored papers have been 
made as nearly as possible like them. We 
have seen that when all the rays of light are 
reflected to our eyes from any object, 
as the white walls of a room, we call 
that object white, and so when no rays are 
reflected the object is called black, because 
where there is no light we say there is only 
darkness or blackness. If we make a very 
white paper and a very black one to add to our 
six papers imitating the principal colors of the 
spectrum, we shall have a set of standards 
with which we can compare all other colors. 

OTHER SPECTRUM COLORS. 

But you must know that our six standards 
are only a small part of the great number 
of colors. If you look at the spectrum you 


will see many other colors besides the stand¬ 
ards, and the saifle is true in the natural 
objects about you. A great many things may 
be called green, just as the children in one 
family are named Smith. But there may be 
Mary Smith, George Smith, Sarah Smith, and 
so on, just as there are in the Green family of 
colors, a yellow-green, a blue-green, a light 
and a dark green, and so on. 

COLORED PAPERS. 

The papers referred to above are prepared 
for use by being cut into small pieces, two 
inches long by one inch wide, called colored 
paper tablets, a little study of which will 
make you so familiar with the various colors 
that whenever you see a color you will recog¬ 
nize it because it is like one of your tablets, 
which has its own definite name. 

The tablets are prepared in four assort¬ 
ments, each assortment put up in a numbered 
envelope, 1, 2, 3 or 4. 

No. 1 envelope contains one piece each of 
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white, 
black and two grays. You have seen that 
the colors in the spectrum are arranged in the 
order just named from red to violet, and if 


6 


THE COLOR PRIMER . 


you remember just how the^ come you will be 
able to select and arrange the papers in the 
same order, and also to name each tablet. 

The white and black pieces will be easily 
recognized, but the other two tablets in this 
envelope called light gray and dark gray, you 
will not think attractive, perhaps. They will, 
however, be found to be very useful. If a 
piece of white paper is held in a strong light 
at a window and a shadow thrown upon it, 
that part of the paper on which the shadow 
falls is a gray. If you can get the light just 
right the shadow may look like one of your 
gray tablets when the tablet is held in the full 
light but near the shadow so that the two can 
be compared. You will learn later that there 
are many kinds of gray, and this gray which 
is like the shadow on a white paper is called 
neutral gray because it has no bright color in 
it, although, for convenience, we call white, 
black and gray, colors. 

TINTS AND SHADES. 

When you have learned all these ten colors 
so that you can name them and can arrange 
the six bright colors in their spectrum order 
you may have another set of the tablets, 


found in envelope No. 2. The same six bright 
colors which you now recognize will be found 
there, and many others. These six colors are 
called standard colors. If you take one of 
them, for example the red tablet, and hold one 
end in the sunlight you will see that the part 
in the sunlight looks much lighter than the other 
part of the tablet. This effect is called a tint 
of the red, and again if you hold this same tab¬ 
let in a good window light and cast a shadow 
on it from the window the part in the shadow 
will be a shade of the red. These two effects 
of tint and shade are imitated in two of the 
pieces of paper in this new set and you may 
be able to select them as looking more like 
the red tablet than any of the other colors in 
the envelope. 

A COLOR SCALE. 

If you can now choose each of the six 
standard colors and its tint and shade you 
may be able to lay all the eighteen colors in 
the form of a chart, see Fig. 1, beginning 
at the top with the full red paper and laying 
on the right hand side of it the shade and at 
the left the tint. Below this row the orange 
row may be laid and so on down to the violet. 


HOW TO 


Each one of these rows of colors is called a 
scale of color. The three red pieces make 
the red scale of three tones. You cannot 
remember all these terms at once, but some 
time they will seem very simple to you. 


R T1 

R 

RSI 

0 T 1 

0 

0S1 

Y T 1 

Y 

Y S 1 

6T1 

G 

GS 1 

B T 1 

B 

B S 1 

V T 1 

V 

VS1 


Fig. 1. 

Thus far you have learned to recognize and 
select six scales of three tones each, and 
know what “ Standard color” is, and that the 
standard when made lighter is a tint, and 
when darker is a shade. 

In addition to these six Standards of color 
there are other colors in the spectrum which 
do not seem to be very clear in such a spec¬ 
trum as can be secured in a room which is not 


COLOR. 


7 


very dark. But with a very perfect glass 
prism and a very dark room, many other 
colors can be seen between the red and the 
orange, and between the orange and yellow, 
etc. For the study of color two colors have 
been made in the papers between the red and 
the orange and between each other two stand¬ 
ard colors nearest to each other in the spec¬ 
trum. In the third envelope of color tablets 
the papers show between the red and orange 
a red with some orange in it and an orange 
with some red in it. One we call an orange- 
red and the other a reddish orange. So there 
are yellow-orange and orange-yellow. 

COLORS NOT IN THE SPECTRUM 
And then there are some colors which 
are not found in the spectrum. These 
colors are such as you could make if you 
should take some pure red paint and some 
pure violet paint and mix a little violet into 
some red which would make a violet-red, and 
a little red into some violet to produce a red- 
violet. In this way we have eighteen colors 
which you may find among the little paper 
tablets. When you can lay all these in their 
proper order from the red to the violet you 














8 


THE 


will have two left. Those you have laid will 
represent the spectrum, and the two pieces 
left over represent colors not in the spectrum, 
but made by mixing red and violet paints and 
are called a violet-red and a red-violet. If 
you now lay all your papers in a circle instead 
of a straight row with each piece laid the 



Fig. 2. 

longest way, running from the center of the 
circle to circumference like the spokes of a 
wheel, thus bringing these two odd colors 
together as shown in the accompanying figure, 
near the top of the circle, you will have pro- 


PRIMER. 


duced a spectrum circuit, (see Fig. 2), having 
completed the circuit by adding the colors 
between the red and violet which are not found 
in the spectrum but which are common in 
nature and the arts and commonly called 
purple. 

MIXING COLORS. 

Now the wisest man could not describe in 
words every different color so that they would 
be understood without samples to look at, 
but I am going to show you how we can take 
the colored papers, made to imitate the six 
standard colors and white and black, mix 
them so as to show all other colors and then 
name all new colors so that we can tell our 
friends what each one is, and even write the 
true name of each color, just as we make 
words and name objects with the letters of 
the alphabet. 

There are no colors in flowers or in our silks 
so pure as those in the spectrum, but colored 
papers are made in such variety and in such 
pure colors that a great deal can be learned 
from them about color; so that when one of 
you should wish to become an artist, a chemist 
in a silk mill, a decorator of china, a worker 


IIO W TO S 

in gold or enamel ornament, or a milliner, or 
even when yon might merely want to select 
the furnishings for a home, you would be 
able to make beautiful combinations in color. 

These colored papers have been made 
especially to train our eyes to see all colors 
and to know what to call them. Every color 
may have a true name by which we can call 
it whenever we meet it. First we can say to 
what family it belongs and then, if we have 
given careful attention to the colored papers, 
we can give it its particular name in the 
family. 

Such papers may not only teach us colors, 
but they may be folded and cut and pasted in 
beautiful forms, and afford much pleasure and 
instruction in this way also. 

A FAMILIAR EXPERIMENT. 

Probably you have all seen a stick with lire 
at the end of it whirled around so rapidly as 
to form a perfect ring of fire. This is another 
wonderful thing but few people stop to ask 
what causes.it. I wonder if I can explain it 
so that you can remember it. 

The reason why we see anything is because 
the eye is fitted with a lens and a back screen 


COLOR. 


9 


like the lens and plate in a photographic 
camera, but the impression made on this 
screen is not fixed and lasting like that re¬ 
ceived by the photographic plate. Still it 
remains a very little while, and when the stick 
is whirled rapidly the impression made at one 
instant remains long enough for the stick to 
make an entire circle, and thus a full ring of 
light is seen. 

THE MAXWELL DISKS. 

On the same principle, Sir Isaac Newton, a 
learned man who lived two hundred years ago, 
discovered that he could make several colors 
come together into one by painting them on 
a wooden top and then spinning the top. 
This color top of Newton’s was very much 
improved some years ago by an Englishman 
named Maxwell. He had been painting disks 
of cardboard in sectors or the shape of a 
piece of pie, making the pieces in different 
colors and then placing the disk on a rotating 
spindle to see what colors would result. This 
was interesting but when he wanted a different 
combination or different proportions of colors 
he was obliged to paint a new disk, which 
took much time. Finally the idea came to 


10 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


him that by taking two or more disks of thin 
card or paper and cutting a straight slit from 
the edge to the center of each, they could be 
combined and show a portion of each, so that 
when he had tried one combination he could 
change so as to show more or less of the 
colors desired, and then at once spin the top 
again. So from this little invention these 
disks as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 have ever since 


Fig. 3. Fig. 4. 

been called Maxwell’s color disks. 

Fig. 3 shows how two of them, having 
been cut from circumference to center, are 
joined together, and Fig. 4 represents the full 


face view after the union is effected, the cen¬ 
ters coming together and a large part of one 
disk and a small part of the other showing. 

COLOR WHEEL AND TOP. 

Fig. 5 is the color wheel and you can see 
how the disks are fastened on. This is for 
the teachers to use before the whole class, but 
there is also prepared 
for you a small wheel 
called the color top 
and shown in Fig. 6. 
With this little instru¬ 
ment, after brief in¬ 
structions you can fol¬ 
low the teacher’s work 
and even perform ex¬ 
periments of- your own. 
In examining the top 
you will see that the 
peg fits a circular piece 
of thick, hard card¬ 
board, and there is a 
little wooden collar which fits quite closely 
to the stem of the peg as it is pushed down 
against the cardboard. This top is sold in an 
envelope with two sets of disks, one smaller 

































HOW TO SEE COLOR . 


11 


than the other, each set comprising one each 
of the six standard colors 
and white and black. 
With this simple outfit a 
large number of instruc¬ 
tive experiments can be 
performed by any ingen¬ 
ious boy or girl who 
Fig. 6. has had instruction. Some 

of them will be explained, as they illustrate 
many of the facts of color seeing, and by 
such study the eyes will be trained to see many 
things which, otherwise, would never be 
noticed. 

Suppose one of the two disks shown above 
is green and the other yellow, then when they 
are whirled rapidly what do you suppose you 
will see? Not green nor yellow but a new 
color, the larger surface of yellow being mod¬ 
ified by combining with it the smaller quantity 
of green, forming a green-yellow. 

HOW TO NAME THE COLORS. 

I promised to tell you how to name any 
color so that it can be written down and 
sent to a distant friend, and I can now make 
it plain to you. The standard green and yel¬ 


low being fixed and accepted, the same 
combination used in Fig. 4 will always pro¬ 
duce the same color, and if we can record 
the exact amount of green and yellow it 
can be reproduced at any time, whenever 
one has a top or a wheel. This work can be 
done more exactly on the larger disks of the 
color wheel, but you can get very good results 
with the little top. There are marks on 
the outer circumference of the cardboard 
disks used on the wheel, by which it is di¬ 
vided into 100 equal parts, so that the exact 
proportions used for any given color can be 
determined at a glance, as in this case 22 
green and 78 yellow. 

Let me tell you how to do the same thing 
with the top. You will see marks around the 
edge of its cardboard disk. When you have 
made a pleasing combination by spinning the 
top, count how many spaces are taken by each 
color. Every space stands for five parts out of 
a hundred, and so, for example, if you have on 
your top, yellow 4 spaces, green 8, white 2 and 
black 6, that means that you have yellow 20 
parts, green 40 parts, white 10 and black 30, 
making 100 parts in all. You can write down 



12 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


the number of parts you have used of each 
color, and whoever has a color top can fix the 
disks on in the same way and make the same 
color, no matter what it is. So we can not 
only make a color but we can name any color 
which we have seen. 

1 have already told you how the strong 
sunlight on a standard color will make a tint 
of that color, while a shade is produced by 
taking the standard out of the strong light 
and putting it into a shadow. So with the 
color top we make an orange tint by adding 
to the orange disk a little of the white one, 
and an orange shade by adding some of the 
black to the orange. A lighter tint may be 
made by putting in more white and a darker 
shade by the addition of more black. In the 
same manner we can make tints and shades of 
all the standards. 

THE HUES. 

In this study we must learn to be exact in 
our use of terms. Between each pair of 
standards there are in the spectrum a variety 
of colors and these we call hues, therefore 
these intermediate hues are made by combin¬ 
ing on our color top two of the standards which 


come next each other in the red, orange, yellow, 
green, blue and violet spectrum. Beginning 
with the red and orange disks, by using a 
large amount of the red and a small amount 
of the orange we have an orange-red, and by 
taking a good deal of orange and a little of 
the red we make a red-orange. So take the 
yellow and green disks and make a green- 
yellow and a yellow-green. 

Let us see what we have done in our experi¬ 
ments thus far. We have combined the white 
disk with each standard and produced different 
tints, and by using the black disk in place of 
the white we have made the shades. We have 
also put together the standards in pairs to 
make the intermediate hues. 

ADDITIONAL TINTS AND SHADES. 

Now we can proceed to make tints and 
shades of the hues, also, by combining three 
disks instead of two on our color top. For 
example, an orange and a yellow disk make 
an orange-yellow or a yellow-orange, while by 
using an orange, a yellow and a, white disk 
together we can produce tints of the various 
hues, and by replacing the white with a black 
disk we make shades of the hues. In this 


HO W TO S 

way an almost endless variety of tints and 
shades can be made. 

If the white and black disks are combined 
the result will be a shade of white or a neutral 
gray, quite an important feature in color 
study. 

PURE AND BROKEN SPECTRUM SCALES. 

Let me say another word about the pretty 
effect that may be made in colored papers 
by what is called scaling colors. The scale 
represented by Fig. 7 is the standard orange 
scale. Beginning at the left we have orange 

0.T.2 0X1 0. STAND OSd OS 



tint 2, the lightest color in the scale, 
then orange tint 1, orange standard, orange 
shade 1, and orange shade 2, the darkest 
color in the scale. We make six of these 
scales of the six standards and then if we 
take two hues between each pair of standards 


COLOR . 


13 


and scale them we shall have in all eighteen 
scales of five tones each. Thus we have 
ninety colors in our chart all named, as you 
will see by Fig. 8, called the chart of pure 
spectrum scales. 

Now if we take the red disk and use it 
with both the white and black disks we shall 
have a combination of red and gray, which 
will produce a gray-red or a broken red. By 
mixing different proportions of the red, white 
and black we can easily make three tones of 
broken red. Then if we treat in a similar 
manner each of the six standards and 
one intermediate hue between each two, 
we shall have twelve scales of three tones 
each, or thirty-six colors in all, as shown 
in Fig. 9, the chart of broken spectrum 
scales. 

The chief difference between these 
two charts is that the first consists of 
the pure, bright colors of the spectrum, while 
the other is made up of these pure colors dulled 
by mixing with them neutral grays. Another 
difference is in the number of hues and tones. 
There might be ninety of these in the chart 
of broken colors if we chose to make them, 








































































14 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 



Fig. 8. 





































































HOW TO SEE COLOR . 


15 


and there could be any number of colors in 
either chart. 

BROKEN COLORS. 

From all that has been said you will doubt¬ 
less recognize the truth of the statement when 
I tell you that nearly all the colors seen in 
nature are broken colors. The vapor and 
other impurities in the air even on a clear day 
all tend to draw a veil between our eyes and 
the objects looked at. Therefore the study of 
broken colors becomes a most important and 
fascinating part of this whole subject, and it 
has an added interest from the fact that nearly 
all the colors found in ladies’ dress goods, car¬ 
pets, paper hangings, etc., come under the 
head of broken colors. 

But in the beautiful flowers from our gar¬ 
dens we find the nearest approach to pure 
spectrum colors. By closely observing these 
and other objects in nature and art you will 
get both pleasure and profit. By the word 4 4 na¬ 
ture,” I mean to include such objects as flowers 
and trees, the sky and the grass, the moun¬ 
tains and all birds and other animals, while 
the word “art” covers things that are man¬ 
ufactured or fashioned by the hand of man. 


There are many curious things in connec¬ 
tion with this subject that will both surprise 
and please you. For example you can some¬ 
times see color where there is none. You 
found this to be true in regard to light, when 
I spoke about the ring of fire made by a 
rapidly whirling stick. The fire is actually 
Only in one place, that is, at the end of the 
stick, and yet you see a perfect ring of it, 
because, as I told you, our eyes have the 
power of retaining the vision for a short 
time. 

ACCIDENTAL COLOR. 

There is something called accidental color, 
which furnishes a striking example of seeing 
color where there is none, and I will show you 
an easy way of producing it. Take a white 
card, say 2J by 5£ inches in size, and paste 
upon one end of it a 1J inch circle of stand¬ 
ard red paper. Make a black dot at the 
center of the circle and another one at the 
other end of the card at the same distance 
from the end. Now look for half a minute 
at the dot in the circle of red, and then look 
at the other black dot, and soon you will see 
a circle of very light blue-green, ^yhich is a 


16 


THE COLOR PRIMER . 


tint of the color complementary to the red. 
(See Fig. 10.) 

If cards are pre¬ 
pared with circles 
of the five other 
standard colors sim¬ 
ilar effects will be 
Fig. 10. produced and a hint 

obtained as to the complementary of each 
standard. 

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS. 

But I have not told you what this long 
word, “complementary” means. As all col¬ 
ors are contained in the white light of the sun, 
if we take away from -white a particular color, 
all the others combined make a new color 
which is complementary to the one taken 
away, that is it is the color which, added to 
that taken away, will make white. Just as in 
numbers you might take two away from five 
and call three, all that is left, the complement 
of two, because two and three when put 
together make five. So take the color red for 
example. If we can find out what color with 
red will make white, then that color is com¬ 
plementary to red. 


The colored papers are the nearest imita¬ 
tions we can get to the pure spectrum colors, 
but still they are so far from pure that by no 
possible combination of the different colors 
can we produce pure white. But we can 
make a color like white when in a shadow 
which is a gray, and such a gray can be made 
by joining wdiite and black disks on the top. 
The gray thus made is called a neutral gray 
because it has no tinge of any of the spectrum 
colors. 



Fig. 11. 

Therefore if we can discover which colors 
of disks to put with a red disk so as to secure 
a gray like a white and black gray as made 





















HOW TO 


with the disks we shall have discovered the 
complementary of red. Because the pig¬ 
mentary colors are impure as compared with 
pure sunlight colors, such as are seen in a 
spectrum, the result of combining two impure 
colors which are complementary to each other 
will be an impure white which is a neutral 
gray, such as is made by the combination of 
a white and a black disk. 



Fig. 12. 

Now it has been found that red, green and 
blue in certain proportions on the color wheel 
or top will produce gray the same as can be 
made by a combination of a white and a black 
disk. This is shown in Fig. 11. 


COLOR. 


17 


Therefore a blue-green, made by combining 
green and blue in the same proportions as 
seen in Fig. 12, is the complementary of red. 
In the same way the complementary of each 
of the other standard colors may be found. 

The complementary of orange is a color 
between the blue and green, that of green is 
a violet-red and that of violet is a color be¬ 
tween yellow and green. As for yellow and 
blue they are very nearly complementary to 
each other. 

CONTRASTS. 

A pleasing effect in the contrast of colors 
is made by mounting several differently col¬ 
ored papers close together on a card. Fig. 13 
g. y.g. gy. y. represents a card 
with four colored 
pieces of paper on 
it, yellow, green- 
yellow, yellow-green 
and green. If you 

Fig. 13. 

will look intently at about the center of this 
card a short time each color will appear to 
change from edge to edge until it will be hard 
































18 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


believe that each of the sections is of one 
uniform color. 

Another beautiful effect, called contrast 
of tone, can be produced by making a black 
and white disk as shown in Fig. 14. When 
rotated this might be 
expected to present 
four neutral gray rings, 
each distinct in tone 
from its neighbor, and 
uniform in tone from 
edge to edge, but in 
reality each ring ap¬ 
pears graded from one 
edge to the other. 

Fig. 14. 

Another interesting illusion is seen by lay- 



Fig. 15. 

ing strips of neutral gray paper on a sheet of 
a standard color. Strips made in a zigzag- 


form like Fig. 15 show this effect better than 
straight ones. On blue the gray strips have 
a yellow tinge, on red they look greenish blue, 
etc., each bright color producing its comple¬ 
mentary effect on the gray. 

COLOR HARMONIES. 

When your eyes have been trained by work¬ 
ing with colored papers, there isn’t one of 
you so color blind that you will not be able 
to tell the difference between a pleasing 
combination and one that is not pleasing. 
You can see at once that some colors lose a 
great deal of their beauty when put beside 
each other, while others become more beauti¬ 
ful. In the spectrum itself one color merges 
so gradually into another that we get no vio¬ 
lent contrasts. This is a great part of its 
loveliness and it is a -secret worth remember¬ 
ing when we come to try our hand at produc¬ 
ing harmony in colors. 

You know in music when two notes are not 
in harmony they make a discord. That is 
they make a sound that is unpleasant to our 
ears, and we call it a noise. When the two 
notes harmonize the effect is music instead of 
mere noise. It is just so in color, and the 



HOW TO SEE COLOR. 


19 


more we educate our eyes the more delight we 
shall have in beautiful harmonies. 

When two colors are separated by white, 
black or gray or by gold or silver the harmony 
is almost always improved. This is seen in 
the Union Jack of Great Britain, in which the 
red and blue are separated by narrow stripes 
of white, and in the United States flag a 
white stripe, instead of a red one, comes 
next below the blue field. 

Harmonies are made with tints and shades 
of the same color, with tones from the scales 
of neighboring colors in the spectrum, and also 
by combining opposite or complementary 
colors. This whole subject of harmony forms 
an important part of color education, and 
before leaving it I shall be obliged to intro¬ 
duce to you a few hard words. 

Any subject which we desire to study will 
be made more simple if we are able to classify 
it. So it is well for you to know that the 
subject of harmony has been divided into 
these five classes: Contrasted, Dominant, 
Complementary, Analogous and Perfected. 

If you take what we may call a live or 
active color such as a standard red or any of 


its pure tones, and place it beside a dead or 
passive color, as white, black, gray, silver or 
gold, you will get a sharp but not unpleasant 
contrast; hence this is called a contrasted 
harmony. The combination with white is 
always pleasing, the result being to brighten 
up both the white and the color with which it 
is brought in contact. 

Dominant harmonies are made by compar¬ 
ing tones from the same color scale, comple¬ 
mentary harmonies by combining opposite or 
complementary colors in the spectrum circuit, 
analogous harmonies by bringing together 
tones from scales of neighboring colors in the 
spectrum, and perfected harmonies are those 
where the prevailing tones of the analogous 
harmonies are complementary to each other. 

It is a great advantage in color study that 
we have such convenient material as colored 
papers. They are so cheap, so easy to work 
with and produce so many pleasing combina¬ 
tions, that we could make but slow progress 
without them. 

PLEASING EXPERIMENTS. 

It will be very interesting for you to bring 
from home pieces of cloth of various colors 


20 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


or other substances and try to match the 
colors with the paper disks on the color top. 
Flowers and leaves will also afford you great 
pleasure. In these experiments you will find 
it convenient to lay a piece of glass over the 
leaf or cloth and spin the top on the glass, 
looking down upon it from above. 

If all the children of this generation are 
not artists when they grow up, they ought 
surely to have the artistic sense well developed. 
Your fathers and mothers had no such oppor¬ 
tunities as you enjoy of having the eye trained 
to see and value colors. 

The general ignorance which pervails is 
shown by the small number of color terms in 
use and the loose and unintelligible way in 
which even these are employed. How often 
we see in a newspaper such an announcement 
as this: “There are seventy-five different 
shades in dress goods this summer.” Know¬ 
ing now the true meaning of the word 
“ shade,” you will see that the newspaper, in 
the above announcement is prophesying a 
gloomy season, if all kinds of color except 
the shades are wanting. The dictionaries 
themselves give but little help, reflecting the 


popular lack of accurate information. One 
of them says that “ two shades of scarlet are 
different tints.” 

Although there is great difference of opin¬ 
ion over the exact meaning of color terms, 
even among those who have given the subject 
some thought, I will undertake to give you a 
few simple definitions. 

Color. That quality of an object which 
we can perceive only with our eyes. 

Standard Colors. The best possible 
material imitations of these six spectrum 
colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and 
violet. 

Natural Colors. All colors found in the 
sunlight, and in flowers, foliage, minerals and 
all natural objects. 

Pigmentary Colors. All colors used in 
the arts and sciences, as distinct from natural 
colors. 

Hue. By this word we indicate a change 
of color along the spectrum circuit; an orange- 
red is an orange hue of red. 

Tint. A pure color diluted with white or 
in a strong light. 

Shade. A pure color in shadow or com- 


HOW TO SEE COLOR. 


21 


bined with black by means of the rotating 
disks. 

Scale. A series of colors consisting of a 
full color with tints of the same on one side 
and shades on the other. 

Tone. Any step in a color scale from the 
lightest tint to the darkest shade. 

Warm Colors. Red, orange and yellow 
and all colors in which they predominate. 

Cool Colors. Blue-green, blue and violet. 

Neutral Gray. A mixture of white and 
black by means of the rotating disks, a white 
surface in a shadow. 

Warm Gray. A neutral gray mixed with 
a small quantity of a warm color. 

Cool Gray. A neutral gray mixed with 
a little green-blue, blue or violet-blue. 

Broken Colors. Colors mixed with gray. 

Complementary Colors. Two spectrum 
colors which, together, will make white light, 
or two material colors which, by rotation, 
will produce neutral gray. 

Spectrum Circuit. A spectrum circuit is 
made by adding violet-red to the red end of 
the spectrum and red-violet to the violet end 
and then uniting the tw r o ends to form a circle. 


WATER COLORS. 

When you have become well acquainted with 
the use of the colored papers, so that you can 
match and name any color, you can then con¬ 
tinue the work with the aid of water colors. 
These will give you much pleasure, for you 
will find that the names of the colors and 
their combinations and the principles which 
are to govern your work are all familiar, and 
that you* will have to learn only how to handle 
the new material. 

The water colors are prepared in three 
forms, dry in cakes, semi-moist in pans and 
moist in tubes, and you will see that they 
are made to imitate the six standard colors 
as closely as possible, and that two or three 
grays have been added to make the shades. 
The warm gray with the warm standards will 
imitate the shades of those colors, and so 
also with the cool gray. The tints are pro¬ 
duced by thinning the colors down with 
water. You must not expect the same unvary¬ 
ing effects as in the use of the colored papers 
but you can get a great deal of valuable 
instruction with the water colors. 

One real advantage to be gained by this 


22 


THE COLOR PRIMER. 


study is the ability to make harmonious com¬ 
binations in color, an acquirement which you 
will find of much practical value all } T our 
lives. But besides this, a true appreciation of 
color will greatly add to your enjoyment of 
both natural and artistic beauties. 

Everything you can see has some color, 
although the great majority of objects look 
very dull and uninviting if you view them 
without thought. But, remembering what I 


have told you about broken colors, a little 
study will enable you to find something inter¬ 
esting in things which at first you might think 
not worth looking at. Some of these broken 
colors are exceedingly rich and beautiful, but 
even when they are not so there will be great 
satisfaction in studying them, for thereby you 
will be learning to appreciate even more highly 
the beauty of the sky, the grass, the flower, the 
plumage of the bird and other brilliant objects. 


Che Bradley Standard Water Colors. 

The elementary work of the Bradley Color Scheme comprises the use of colored papers 
and experiments with the prism and the rotary disks. To supplement this work and to com¬ 
plete the material for a logical system of color instruction, a line of water colors representing 
the Bradley Standards is now ottered. 

An illuminated metal box, black and gold, contains eight cakes of dry colors, red, orange, 
yellow, green, blue, violet and two grays, warm and cool. 

Another box of similar design, iu blue and gold, contains the same eight colors, semi- 
moist in pans; and in addition to these two forms the same six standards, vath warm, neutral 
and cool grays, are made moist in tubes. 

With rotating disks in the six standards and white and black all colors in nature and the 
arts can be produced, and so in pigments with the same simple collection of colors similar 
results can be secured, the grays being used in place of white and black. 

For prices see below. 


Price Cist of Color Outfit for Primary Schools. 



Primary School Color Wheel, with Disks, 


Price. 

$3.00 

Postage. 

Extra Set of Disks for above, in Portfolio, 


.75 

$ .06 

Color Top, ....... 


.05 

.01 

Color Top, per Dozen, ..... 


.50 


Abater Colors, dry, per box, .... 


.25 


Abater Colors, semi-moist, per box, 


.35 


Abater Colors, moist, per tube, .... 


.10 


Prices for extra cakes and extra pans furnished on application. 
Color Primer, Teachers’ Edition, .... 


.10 


Color Primer, Pupils’ Edition, . , . . 


.05 




No. 1 Prism, ...... 


.10 

.01 

No. 2 Prism, ...... 


.15 

.03 1 

No. 3 Prism, ...... 


.30 

.04 

Wax Crayons, Standard Colors, .... 


- .10 

.02 

Rainy Day Spectrum, ..... 


.10 

.04 

Large Spectrum on cloth, thirty inches long, 


.25 

.04 

Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales No. 1, X, . 


.50 

.10 

Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales No. 2, X, 


1.00 

.15 

Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales, No. 1, 


.50 

.10 

Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales, No. 2, 


.75 

.15 

Chart of Complementary Colors, 


.50 


Paper Tablets, Sets No. 1 and 2, 


.02 


Paper Tablets, Set No. 3, 


.03 


Paper Tablets, Set No. 4, . 


.04 


Sample Book of Colored Papers, .... 


.05 

.01 

Package, 4x4 papers, 100 pieces, Assortment A or B, 


.20 

.04 

Package, 5x5 papers, 100 pieces, “ A or B, 


.30 

.05 

Package, 6x6 papers, 100 pieces, .... 


.30 

.07 

Package, 6x9 papers, 50 pieces, .... 


.30 

.05 

One Sheet Coated Paper 20 x 24, any color in sample book, 


.04 


One Sheet Engine Colored Paper, 20 x 24, any color in sample book, 

.03 



To insure safety by mail each order is enclosed in a pasteboard cylinder, which makes an 
additional charge of five cents to be added for any order however small. 

Assortment A, named in the above list of prices, contains the six spectrum standards 
with one tint and one shade of each and grays. 

Assortment B contains the intermediate hues with one tint and one shade of each. A 
list of the assortments in the other packages will be furnished on application. 

MILTON BRADLEY CO., Springfield, Mass. 








A NEW LINE OF SEWING CARDS. 

To supplement our “Perforated,” “Outline Perforated,” “Outline Printed” and “Prick¬ 
ed Sewing Car Jo,” we now offer a series of “Outline Pricked Sewing Cards” produced by a 
new process which enables us to make prices that otherwise would be impossible. 

Card-board sewing is one of the most popular as well as useful Kindergarten occupa¬ 
tions. Formerly “pricking” formed a separate occupation in the Kindergarten, preceding the 
sewing, but this has been so generally and vigorously criticised by physio-psychologists that 
there has come to be a very general demand for ready-punctured sewing cards, which make 
available the valuable occupation of sewing without the nervous effects of the pricking exer¬ 
cise on the children or the tedious labor of pricking by the teacher. 

A valuable and popular advance in this class of material is*found in the “Outline and 
Pricked” cards here described. 

In this series there are four styles of cards; 5 1-2x7 1-2 inches, 4x5 1-2 inches, 
3 1-2x3 1-2 inches and circular cards 3 1-2 inches in diameter. Each card bears a design 
indicated by a dotted outline in which at suitable points a clear large hole is pricked in the 
card. The dotted outline is not only shown on the face of the card but is quite clearly seen 
on the back, which is of advantage with the youngest pupils. For these four series of cards 
new designs with long stitches have been prepared, simple, artistic and effective when worked. 

PRICES OF THE 

OUTLINE PRICKED SEWING CARDS. 

Price Postage. 

5 1-2 x 7 1-2 inches in box of 100 cards . . . • $1.00 $0.44 

4x5 1-2 “ “ “ .... .55 .25 

3 1-2 x 3 1-2 u u u .... .35 .15 

3 1-2 inch circles “ “ .... .35 .15 

MILTON BRADLEY CO., - - Springfield, Mass. 

New York. Atlanta, Kansas City. 


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